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Presented    by  W^5>\cX(SY-\\"Y^-V-Vo  r\ 

BX  A815  .052  1885 
Olmstead,  Dwight  Hinckley, 

18277-1901. 
The  Protestant  faith;  or, 

Salvation  by  belief 


THE 


PROTESTANT     FAITH 


OR 


SALVATION    BY    BELIEF 


AN  ESSAY  UPON  THE  ERRORS  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  CHURCH 


BY 


DWIGHT  HINCKLEY  OLMSTEAD 


NEW  YORK  &  LONDON 

G.    P.    PUTNAM'S    SONS 

2Ct)e  l^nicfecvbocfeer  ^vcss 

1885 


COPYRIGHT    BY 

DWIGHT  H.  OLMSTEAD 
X885 


Press  of 

G.  P.  Piitnairi's  Sons 

JVe7u  York 


INTRODUCTION  TO  NEW  EDITION. 


The  following  essay,  In  substantially  its 
present  form,  was  read  by  the  author  before 
the  Youne  Men's  Christian  Union  of  New 
York  in  1856,  and  afterwards  on  two  other 
occasions  in  i860. 

In  1874  it  was  printed,  and  some  copies 
were  distributed  gratuitously,  but  none  were 
placed  upon  the  market  for  sale. 

The  author  believes  that  its  publication  at 
this  time  will  be  of  service  to  persons  whose 
minds  are  disquieted  by  modern  doubts,  and 
he  presents  it  to  the  consideration  of  those 
who  call  themselves  Catholic  as  w^ell  as  Prot- 
estant. 

He  is  aware  that  the  discourse  does  not 
affect,  except  incidentally,  the  fundamental 
question  of  the  certainty  and  consequent  re- 
liability of  beliefs  and  opinions.  For,  to 
what  extent  the  latter  are  voluntary  or  invol- 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

untary  is  one  thing,  but  how  far  they  can  be 
depended  upon  and  are  therefore  of  value,  is 
quite  another. 

He  will  be  prepared  to  suggest  a  hypothe- 
sis upon  that  subject,  after  the  arguments  of 
this  present  essay  shall  have  been  disposed 
of. 

The  author  has  taken  the  liberty  of  insert- 
ing in  the  Appendix  a  few  extracts  from  news- 
papers, commendatory  of  the  essay  at  the 
time  it  was  previously  printed. 

New  York,  April,  1885. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


I.  The  Protestant  Reformation  how  occasioned...  7 

II.  The  Intellectual  Character  of  the  Reformation.  11 

III.  Free  Inquiry  against  Authority 12 

IV.  Justification  by  Faith 16 

V.  What    Luther    and    the    Reformers    meant   by 

Faith 19 

VI.  The  Relation  between    Moral    Obligation   and 

Moral  Consequences 22 

VII.  The  nature  of  Beliefs  and  Opinions 30 

VIII.  Concluding  remarks 45 

APPENDIX. 

Note  I 69 

Note  2 69 

Note  3 73 

Note  4 73 

Note  5 73 

Note  6 74 

Commendatory  Criticisms 75 


AN   ESSAY 


ON   THE 


PROTESTANT    FAITH 


I. 

The  Protestant  Reformation  how  occa- 
sioned. 

The  sixteenth  century  ushered  in  a  period 
of  great  intellectual  activity.  The  revival  of 
literature,  art  and  science  ;  the  brilliant  mari- 
time discoveries  ;  the  prevailing  spirit  of  con- 
troversy and  enterprise  ;  but  more  especially 
the  introduction  of  printing,  whereby  knowl- 
edge was  disseminated,  and  made  common  to 
more  than  one  nation  or  generation,  had  all 
given  a  new  and  remarkable  impulse  to  hu- 
man thought,  distinguishing  that  as  the  most 
important  epoch  in  modern  history.     As  men 

7 


8  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH. 

beo-an  to  think  for  themselves,  their  first  pro- 
testation,  as  may  well  be  supposed,  was 
against  the  restraint  of  thought  and  its  au- 
thoritative dictation.  The  fears  of  the  Vicar 
of  Croydon  were  well  nigh  realized  :  **  We 
''must  root  out  printing,  or  printing  will  root 
*'  out  us." 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  for  centuries 
the  Roman  Church  had  been  the  prominent, 
controlling  power  of  Christendom.  She  did 
not  spring  up  in  a  day,  but  was  ''the  fruit  of 
"a  long  array  of  most  learned  men,  distin- 
"gulshed  colleges  and  councils,  sanctioned  by 
"noble  martyrs  and  numerous  miracles." 

So  much  was  she,  for  these  reasons,  lifted 
above  the  common  crowd,  it  is  not  surprising 
if  to  them  her  utterances  had  early  the  force 
of  law,  and  that  she,  in  turn,  should  count  her- 
self infallible. 

But  not  content  with  being  the  spiritual 
head,  she  aspired  to  temporal  dominion.  She 
demanded  tribute  from  all  nations,  and  ar- 
rayed armed  legions  for  her  own  use ;  she 
made  and   unmade    kings ;    she    became   the 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  9 

umpire  of  trade ;  she  dictated  laws  and  treat- 
ies. At  all  Christian  courts  her  legates  took 
precedence,  soon  assuming  to  represent  that 
divine  right  —  that  supreme  authority  —  by 
whose  sanction  alone  princes  were  then,  as 
now,  supposed  to  govern. 

To  this  supremacy  she  set  up  the  claim  of 
prescription.  Had  she  not  for  a  thousand 
years  stood  firm  on  that  rock  whereon  Christ 
himself  had  set  her,  amid  changing  empires, 
the  rude  assaults  of  barbarism,  and  the  decis- 
ions of  hostile  councils  ?  Had  not  her  edicts 
become  the  recognized  theology  of  the  greater 
part  of  the  civilized  world  ?  How  could  she 
be  In  error  who  could  point  to  a  history  like 
this  ? 

At  length  her  prestige  began  to  decline  ; 
and  while  that  result  was  In  no  small  degree 
due  to  the  corruptions  of  the  priesthood,  Its 
main  cause  is  to  be  found  in  that  growing 
mental  enfranchisement  ever  since  peculiarly 
characteristic  of  the  Protestant  nations.  Im- 
parting to  them  a  superior  energy  and  intelli- 
gence, derived,  as  has  been  most  truly  said, 


lO  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH. 

*'  not  from  the  creeds  they  hold,  but  from  the 
''private  liberty  which  accompanies  these 
"  creeds."  * 

Never  before  had  the  traditional  preten- 
sions and  policy  of  the  Church  been  so  seri- 
ously and  persistently  questioned,  nor  ever 
before  had  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  Chris- 
tian world  presumed  to  assert  anything  con- 
trary to  her  canons.  But  now  the  boldness  of 
a  few  learned  men  at  first,  and  afterwards  of 
the  people  at  large,  began  to  shake  her  au- 
thority. 

It  was  not  that  men  had  the  right  to  think, 
but  the  undeniable,  patent  fact,  that  they  did 
think,  and  could  not  help  thinking  and  having 
intelligent  opinions  of  their  own,  which  gave 
point  to  the  struggle. 

Thus  arose  that  great  conflict  between  Au- 
thority, so  called,  and  Opinion — between  the 
authority  of  the  Pope  and  the  opinions  of  the 
educated  classes ;  between  the  authority  of 
councils  and  the  individual  judgment.  And  it 
need  scarcely  be  said  that  the  contest,  al- 
*  Westminster  Review,  Jan.  1858. 


THE  PRO  TESTA  NT  FAITH.  1 1 

though  in  the  most  enlightened  countries 
somewhat  in  favor  of  the  individual,  is  not 
concluded  even  to  this  day. 

II. 

The  Intellectual  Character  of  the  Ref- 
ormation. 

The  Lutheran  reformation,  which  had,  in 
reality,  been  impending  from  the  time  of 
Wyckliffe,  was  an  intellectual  rather  than  a 
religious  movement.  From  it  nothing  has 
been  gained  directly  for  religion ;  nothing, 
except  what  has  resulted  from  independence 
of  thought,  free  speech,  and  the  present  het- 
erogeneous character  of  the  Christian  world 
— for  even  this  last  is  progress. 

It  was  not  wholly  a  failure  ;  since,  whatever 
may  have  been  the  theological  errors  of  Lu- 
ther, (and  grave  errors  they  were),  it  cannot 
be  denied  that  in  the  history  of  the  present 
wide  and  fundamental  variance  between  the 
hereditary  assumptions  of  the  Church  and 
common  sense,  he  was  among  the  first  who 


1 2  THE  PRO  TES  TANT  FA  ITH. 

opened  the  gate  of  free  inquiry,  disenthralled 
men  from  a  blind,  unreasonable  subservience 
to  priestly  rule,  and  directed  them  to  the  par- 
tial liberty  they  have  since  enjoyed. 

III. 

Free  Inquiry  against  Authority. 

That  this  was  the  occasion  and  essential 
feature  of  the  Reformation,  an  assertion  of 
the  right,  or  rather  the  recognition  of  the  ne- 
cessity of  private  judgment  and  interpreta- 
tion, as  opposed  to  the  authority  and  dictation 
of  the  Church,  it  will  not  be  difficult  to  show 
from  the  writings  and  disputations  of  Luther 
himself. 

''  Retract,"  said  the  Pope's  legate  to  him  at 
Augsburg.  ''  Retract !  acknowledge  thy  er- 
''  ror,  whether  thou  believest  it  an  error  or  not  ! 
"  The  Pope  commands  thee  to  do  this."* 

''  Convince  me,"  replied  Luther. 

One  of  the  conditions  imposed  upon  Luther 
was  '*  that  he  should  not  circulate  any  opin- 
*  Michelet,  Life  of  Luther,  p,  50. 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  1 3 

*'  Ions  at  variance  with  the  authority  of  the: 
''  Church." 

''  Do  you  not  know,"  said  the  cardinal  to 
him,  ''  that  the  Pope  is  above  all  councils?" 

But  ''  from  the  Pope  ill  informed,"  Luther 
appeals  ''to  the  Pope  better  informed." 

He  also  afterwards  declared,  "  In  what  con- 
''cerns  the  word  of  God  and  the  faith,  every 
''  Christian  is  as  good  a  judge  for  himself  as 
''the  Pope  can  be  for  him."* 

This  conflict  between  the  authority  of  the 
Church  and  private  opinion,  between  the 
assumption  of  infallibility  and  the  protest 
against  it,  was  nowhere  more  marked  than  at 
the  Diet  at  Worms,  whereof  we  have  Luther's 
own  account. 

Said  the  Emperor's  orator  to  him,  "  Martin, 
"you  have  assumed  a  tone  which  becomes  not 

"  a  man  of  your  condition You 

"  have  resuscitated  dogmas  which  have  been 
"  distinctly  condemned  by  the  Council  of  Con- 
"  stance,  and  you  demand  to  be  convicted 
"thereupon  out  of  the  Scriptures.  But  if 
*  Michelet,  Life  of  Luther,  pp.  94,  95. 


14  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH. 

**  every  one  were  at  liberty  to  bring  back  into 
"discussion  points  which  for  ages  have  been 
"settled  by  the  Church  and  by  Councils, 
"  nothine  would  be  certain  and  fixed — doc- 
"trine  or  do^ma — and  there  would  be  no  be- 
"  lief  wdiich  men  must  adhere  to  under  pain 
"of  eternal  damnation.  You,  for  instance, 
"  who  to-day  reject  the  authority  of  the  Coun- 
"  cil  of  Constance,  to-morrow  may,  in  like 
"  manner,  proscribe  all  councils  together,  and 
"next,  the  Fathers  and  the  Doctors;  and 
"  there  would  remain  no  authority  whatever 
"  but  that  individual  word,  which  we  call  to 
"witness,  and  which  you  also  invoke."  ^^ 

But  Luther  "  could  only  repeat  what  he 
"  had  already  declared  :  that  unless  they 
"  proved  to  him  by  irresistible  arguments 
"  that  he  was  in  the  wrong,  he  would  not  go 
"  back  a  single  inch  ;  that  what  the  councils 
"had  laid  down  was  no  article  of  faith;  that 
"  councils  had  often  erred,  had  often  contra- 
"  dieted  each  other,  and  that  their  testimony 
"  consequently  was  not  convincing."  f 

*  Michelet,  Life  of  Luther,  p.  90.  f  Ibid.  p.  89. 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  I  5 

Further,  while  resisting  the  authority  of  the 
Church,  Luther,  at  the  same  time,  claimed  for 
his  own  opinions  the  weight  of  authority, 
binding  not  alone  upon  himself,  but  upon  all 
the  world  beside. 

When  the  Zwinglians  inquired  of  him  what 
would  effect  a  reconciliation  between  them, 
he  answered,  ''  Let  our  adversaries  believe  as 
we  do." 

''  We  cannot,"  responded  the  Swiss. 

**  Well  then,"  replied  Luther,  *'  I  abandon 
''you  to  God's  judgment."* 

Robertson,  in  his  history  of  Charles  the 
Fifth,  makes  this  deserved  remark.  ''  Luther, 
''Calvin,  Cranmer,  Knox,  the  founders  of  the 
"  reformed  church  in  their  respective  coun- 
"  tries,  inflicted  so  far  as  they  had  the  power 
"and  opportunity,  the  same  punishments 
"  which  were  demanded  against  their  own 
"  disciples  by  the  Church  of  Rome,  on  such 
"as  called  in  question  any  article  of  their 
"  creeds." 

*  Merle  d'Aubigne,  Hist  Ref.  Vol.  IV.  p.  99 


1 6  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH. 

''God"  (said  Knox)  '' raiseth  them  up  to 
''  slay  those  whom  the  Kirk  hateth."* 

IV. 

Justification  by  Faith. 

Let  us  now  examine  the  peculiar  but  per- 
nicious tenet  of  ''justification  by  faith,"  which 
Luther  advanced,  and  which  is,  to  this  day, 
the  key-note  of  Protestant  theology.  That 
doctrine  was  thus  declared  by  the  regulations 
published  by  Joachim  in  1539  : 

"  That  we  obtain  the  remission  of  sins,  jus- 
*'  tification,  and  final  and  eternal  salvation  by 
''  the  mere  grace  of  God,  and  only  through 
"faith  in  the  redemption  of  Christ,  and  by  no 
"worthiness,  work,  or  desert  of  our  own." 

From  time  immemorial  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic Church  had  held  that  the  performance  of 
duty  lay  in  some  act,  rather  than  in  a  belief, 
although  she  seems  never  to  have  precisely 
determined  the  quality  essential  to  salvation. 

*  Attributed  to  John  Knox  by  James  Grant,  in  his  novel 
"  Bothwell,  or  the  Days  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots." 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  1/ 

She  Imposed  the  condition  of  meritorious 
deeds,  and  buried  her  devotees  in  the  cloister 
with  fasting  and  penance,  or  sent  them  forth 
to  administer  to  human  needs,  or  perchance 
to  perish  in  battle  before  the  walls  of  infidel 
cities.  Indeed,  so  much  of  real  heroism  and 
warlike  renown  was  associated  and  entwined 
with  this  theology  of  works,  that  for  her  to 
give  it  up  was  to  surrender  and  make  secular 
the  splendid  history  of  centuries. 

Luther,  disgusted  with  the  traffic  In  indul- 
gences, the  gross  impositions  and  abandoned 
habits  of  the  priesthood  ;  unable  to  reconcile 
their  practices  with  their  professions,  or  the 
canons  of  the  Church  with  either ;  and  being, 
if  not  more  spiritual,  at  least  more  honest  or 
more  bold  than  they,  undertook  to  interpret 
the  Bible  for  himself,  according  to  his  unques- 
tionable right  so  to  do.  But  in  that  interpre- 
tation he  perpetuated  these  two  most  fatal 
errors  :  first,  the  assumed  importance  of  en- 
deavoring to  save  the  soul,  whether  by  faith 
or  works  ;  and  second,  that  immunity  from 
moral  punishment  Is  secured  by  some  belief. 


1 8  THE  PR  O  TES  TA  NT  FA  ITU. 

To  these  same  errors,  common  to,  and  the 
essential  features  of  most  if  not  all  prevailing 
religious  systems,  let  us  briefly  direct  our  at- 
tention.     I  shall  endeavor  to  show: 

I.  lymt  the  avoidance  of  moral  coiiseqttences 
being  wholly  2Ltilitariaiiy  can  be  no  incentive  to 
the  performance  of  diLty  ;  and  that  an  act  per- 
formed zuith  any  refer eiice  to  a  personal  be7ie- 
ft,  is  jnst  to  that  extent  without  merit. 

II.  TJiat  belief  is  not  sitbject  to  the  zuill,  bnt 
is  involuntary,  and  is  therefore  not  blame- 
worthy. 

The  importance  and  bearing  of  the  investi- 
gation is  obvious.  For,  if  a  personal  wish 
and  effort  for  salvation  be  not  an  act  of  duty, 
under  a  strict  definition  of  that  term,  and  an 
involuntary  belief  be  not  able  of  itself  to  ef- 
fect that  salvation,  then  it  follows  as  a  matter 
of  course,  that  the  inquiry  common  to  most 
Christians  as  well  as  heathen,  ''  What  shall  we 
''do  to  be  saved  ?"  as  also  their  answers,  that 
salvation  comes  by  ''  belief,"  can  find  no  place 
in  a  correct  system  of  moral  science. 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  1 9 


V. 


What  Luther  and  the  Reformers  meant 
BY  ''Faith." 

Before  proceeding  directly  to  the  consider- 
ation of  these  topics,  it  is  proper  to  observe 
that  Luther  and  the  reformers  meant  by  the 
word  ''  faith,"  (''  The  just  shall  live  by  faith  "),* 
not  a  trust,  a  hope,  a  confidence,  a  reliance, 
an  assurance,  a  sentiment,  or  the  like,  as  suor- 
gested  by  some  persons  who  have  anticipated 
the  arguments  I  shall  urge,  but  simple  intel- 
lectual belief  or  mental  assent,  in  its  plainest 
acceptation.  As  this  may  be  deemed  a  mat- 
ter of  consequence,  let  us  at  the  outset  dis- 
pose of  it. 

The  historian,  Merle  d'Aubigne,  informs  us 
that  Luther,  Melanchthon,  Agricola,  Brientz, 
Justus  Jonas,  and  Osiander,  ''being  convinced 
"that  their  peculiar  doctrine  on  the  Eucharist 
"was  essential  to   salvation,  they  considered 

*  Galatians,  iii.  ii. 


20  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH. 

'all  those  who  rejected  it,  as  without  the  pale 
'  of  the  faith." 

'*  But  that  faith  (which  makes  us  Chris- 
*tians),"  declares  Luther,  ''consists  in  the 
^ firm  belief  thdit  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God." 

He  also  says,  "  A  man's  sins  are  not  par- 
*  doned  unless  he  believes  that  they  are  par- 
'  doned  when  the  priest  pronounces  absolu- 
'tion."  And  again,  "I  have  affirmed,"  says 
Luther,  "  that  no  man  can  be  justified  before 
'  God  except  hy  faith;  so  that  it  is  necessary 
'  that  a  man  should  believe  with  perfect  conh- 
'  dence  that  he  has  received  pardon.  To 
'doubt  of  this  grace  is  to  reject  it."^* 

Merle  d'Aubigne  tells  us  that  "  Luther  ex- 
'  pressed  astonishment  that  the  Swiss  divines 
'could  look  upon  him  as  a  Christian  brother 
'  when  they  did  not  believe  his  doctrines  to  be 
'  true."f 

Zwingle  also  says:  "In  every  nation  who- 
'  soever  believes  with  all  his  heart  in  the  Lord 
'Jesus,   is  accepted   of   God.      Here  truly  is 

*  See  also  Merle  d'Aubigne,  Hist.  Ref.  Vol.  II.  p.  iii. 
t  See  Appendix,     Note  i. 


THE  PR O  TES TA NT  FAITH.  2 1 

**  the  Church,   out   of  which   no   one  can  be 
''  saved." 

The  44th  and  last  article  of  the  Athanasian 
creed,  as  found  in  modern  English  Prayer 
Books,  and  which  is  to-day  made  a  test  of 
church  membership,  is  in  these  words  :  ''  This 
"  is  the  Catholic  Faith,  which,  except  a  man 
''  believe  faithfully,  he  cannot  be  saved." 

Take  away  the  creeds  from  the  churches, 
and  what  remains  to  distinguish  them  either 
as  religious  organizations  or  from  each  other? 
The  ''essential"  creeds  are  certainly  the  bond 
of  the  ''evangelical"  churches.  Indeed,  the 
difference  between  the  most  conservative  and 
progressive  sects  of  the  present  day — between 
Episcopalians,  Unlversalists,  Roman  Catho- 
lics, Methodists,  Baptists,  Unitarians,  and  all 
other  denominations — is  marked  solely  and 
entirely  by  differences  of  opinion.  That  is 
what  really  keeps  them  apart,  and  not  any 
principle,  nor  their  forms  of  worship.  So, 
however  faith  in  the  abstract  may  be  defined, 
it  is  a  matter  of  little  moment,  since  the  actual 
fact  appears  to  be,  that  diversities  of  opinion, 


22  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH. 

or  simple  intellectual  beliefs,  and  not  senti- 
mentalities, or  emotions,  or  purposes  divide 
religious  bodies. 

If  the  word  ''faith"  had  come  to  have  a 
different  signification  from  what  it  possessed 
at  the  time  of  the  Reformation  (which  it  has 
not),  it  would  only  prove  that  Luther  and 
Calvin  were  not  the  fathers  of  modern  theol- 
ogy. 

It  might  be  shown,  if  necessary,  that  noth- 
ing can  be  further  from  our  volition  than  an 
engendered  trust,  or  confidence,  or  even  feel- 
ing, or  any  of  those  mental  states  proposed 
to  be  substituted  for  plain  belief.  But  such  a 
discussion  would  be  foreign  to  the  present 
purpose. 

VI. 

The  Relation  between  Moral  Obligation 
AND  Moral  ConsequExVCEs. 

Having  thus  shown  that  the  Protestant 
"faith"  means  practically  the  Protestant 
''belief,"  both  as  understood  by  the  reform- 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  23 

ers,  and  by  modern  acceptation,  I  proceed  to 
discuss  the  first  topic,  namely :  the  2tnfitness 
of  an  appeal  to  the  sentiment  of  fear  in  pro- 
ducing religious  emotion, 

''What  must  I  do  to  inherit  eternal  life?" 
is  the  caption  of  an  article  in  the  ''  Family 
*'  Christian  Almanac,"  published  by  the  Amer- 
ican Tract  Society.  Here  follows  the  answer. 
''  What  must  I  do  ?  By  the  grace  of  God, 
''and  according  to  His  truth,  I  will  tell  you. 
"  You  must  admit  and  feel  that  you  are  a  sin- 
"  ner,  guilty,  polluted,  condemned,  lost,  and 
"  so  dead  in  sins  as  to  be  in  need  of  eternal 
<'life."  .  .  .  "You  must  believe  that  He 
"is  the  Saviour,  the  only  Saviour,  able  to 
"  save  to  the  uttermost ;  willing  to  save  all 
"that  will  come  to  Him;  ready  and  willing 
"to  save  you,  and  to  save  you  now;"  and 
much  more  to  the  same  effect. 

Whatever  may  be  the  views  and  refine- 
ments of  the  more  educated  members  of  the 
"orthodox"  churches,  It  Is  fair  to  presume 
that  the  foregoing  quotation  fairly  expresses 
the  sum  total   of  the  formal  relioion   of  the 


24  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH. 

majority  of  them  ;  that  with  them  the  object 
of  reheion  is  to  save  the  soul,  and  to  save  it 
by  a  certain  prescribed  beHef. 

A  prominent  Presbyterian  clergyman  of 
Brooklyn,  in  a  published  discourse,  remarks  : 
''  Here  is  the  fatal  barrier  that  lies  between 
'*  their  souls  and  Heaven — unbelief."  .  .  . 
'^  Unbelief  excludes  a  sinner  from  the  rest  of 
''Heaven.  It  is  man's  crowning  sin."  .  .  . 
'*  The  fatal  chasm  that  separates  the  soul  from 
"  its  rest,  has  been  not  an  immoral  life,  not  a 
''  severe  and  angry  God,  not  a  violated  law, 
''but  unbelief — simple  unbelief — a  heartless, 
wilful,  determined  unbelief."  * 

The  conclusions  hereafter  arrived  at,  as  to 
the  involuntary  character  of  beliefs  and  opin- 
ions sufficiently  refute  such  theology ;  but 
there  are  other  objections  to  it. 

Taking  the  term  "salvation"  in  the  strictly 
orthodox  and  popular  sense,  namely,  as  the 
remission  of  a  deserved  penalty,  as  an  immu- 
nity, temporal  or  eternal,  from  bodily  or  spir- 

*  "  The  Promise  Unrealized,"  by  Rev.  J.  E.  Rockwell, 
D.D.     Published  Sept.  1859. 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH,  2$ 

itual  suffering,  what,  it  may  be  asked — judged 
by  a  moral  standard — is  the  relation  between 
the  salvation  of  the  human  family  hereafter, 
and  their  rieht  conduct  here  ?  The  ideas  of 
right,  wrong,  duty,  moral  obligation,  have  no 
necessary  connection  with  the  notion  of  re- 
wards and  punishments.  The  sentiment  of 
duty  is  wholly  removed  from  that  of  recom- 
pense. ''  Duty  is  not  measured  by  reward.'"^' 
The  end  of  man's  moral  nature  is  virtue,  not 
happiness.  The  punishment  of  self-disap- 
proval— of  conscience — is  undoubtedly  conse- 
quent on  wrong  doing,  either  in  its  earlier  or 
later  stages  ;  but  it  would  be  equally  wrong 
doing,  whether  followed  by  punishment  or 
not.  As  virtue  is,  in  the  abstract,  independ- 
ent of  its  rewards,  so  is  sin  of  its  penalties. 

Looking  at  it  in  the  ''orthodox"  view, 
(which  is  not  admitted  to  be  the  correct  one), 
namely,  that  under  the  doctrine  of  free  grace 
the  accountability  occasioned  by  sin  is  but  a 
mere  liability  to  account,  the  punishment  is 
not  certain,  even  though  the  law  be  broken. 
*  Cousin,  Hist,  Mod.  Phil.  Vol  II,  p.  285. 


26  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH. 

What  if  we  err  about  the  fact  of  our  pun- 
ishment, will  that  change  either  the  fact  itself, 
or  the  obligations  imposed  upon  us  ? 

Even  were  our  beliefs  voluntary,  could  it, 
in  a  moral  aspect,  be  of  any  possible  avail  to 
us  to  know  the  conditions  of  either  our  pres- 
ent or  future  existence  ?  for  we  live  subject 
to  a  moral  law,  whether  aware  of  it  or  not. 

''  It  seems  enough  for  us,"  as  Benjamin 
Franklin  said,  ''  that  the  soul  will  be  treated 
"  with  justice  in  another  life  respecting  its 
"conduct  in  this." 

Whether  mankind  are  to  meet  their  deserts 
here  or  hereafter,  or  what  may  be  their  just 
deserts,  is  one  thing  ;  but  it  is  quite  another 
how  far  the  performance  of  one's  duty  is  to 
be  affected  by  a  solution  of  the  question. 

We  are  enjoined  by  orthodox  theology  to 
attend  to  the  salvation  of  our  souls.  But  why 
should  we  ?  The  sense  of  duty  is  an  author- 
itative consciousness,  imperatively  imposed,  a 
voice  as  of  God  within  us,  carrying  its  own 
sanction,  arud  must  be  obeyed,  like  any  other 
law,  for  its  own  sake,  because  to  each  of  us  it 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  2J 

evidently  and  undeniably  commands  what  is 
right. 

Self-approval  and  disapproval— which  are 
the  monitions  of  conscience — moral  sentinels, 
so  to  speak,  having  the  same  relation  to  the 
spiritual  well-being  as  pain  has  to  the  bodily 
— simply  point  to  the  rule  of  right,  and  are 
its  accidents,  but  do  not  afford  the  reason  of 
it.  An  action  may  seem  to  tend  to  desirable 
results,  yet  there  can  be  no  personal  virtue  in 
its  performance  unless  it  is  performed  from  a 
sense  of  duty  alone  ;  and,  whoever  acts  for 
the  sake  of  recompense,  (as  he  must  who 
makes  the  recompense  a  motive),  is  just  to 
that  extent  not  virtuous  ;  because  the  very 
idea  of  a  virtuous  act,  as  recognized  in  the 
mind,  is  that  it  is  something  to  be  performed 
wholly  regardless  of  consequences. 

Virtue  is  disinterested,  is  superior  to  self 
and  disregards  it.  If  it  does  not  disres^ard 
expediency  as  an  end,  then  it  is  not  virtue. 
Nay,  it  contains  the  idea  of  sacrifice. 

Again,  as  before  remarked,  a  just  law  vindi- 
cates itself — bears  its  own  sanction — and  the 


2  8  THE  FR  O  TES  TA  NT  FA  ITH. 

obligation  to  obey  it  does  not  proceed  from 
the  personal  consequences  of  its  infraction, 
however  lamentable  they  may  be,  but  from 
its  evident  justness  and  fitness.  ''  Right  is 
''  not  right  because  God  wills  it  to  be  right, 
''  but  from  its  own  reasonableness  ; "  other- 
wise God  would  be  a  tyrant.  I  ought  to  do 
a  certain  thing,  or  follow  a  certain  course  of 
action,  because  it  seems  to  me  that  I  ought ; 
because  /,  {Ego,  myself)  being  the  sole  7dtimate 
authority,  believe  it  to  be  right.  Can  argu- 
ment add  any  strength  to  that  affinPxation? 
Would  not  the  denial  of  it  be  to  deny  what 
at  the  same  time  I  myself  affirmed?  Con- 
science therefore  is  not  so  much  an  instinct, 
as  a  declaration  of  the  person  himself  in  re- 
spect to  those  things  which  ought  to  be  done 
or  to  be  left  undone ;  and  that  affirmation  be- 
ing undeniable  by  the  individual  himself,  is 
on  that  account  conclusive  on  him. 

The  theology  which  looks  to  the  mere  sal- 
vation of  the  soul,  whether  from  punishment 
or  from  sin  itself,  can  be  defended  neither  on 
principle,  nor — paradoxical  as  it  may  seem — 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  29 

on  the  plea  of   expediency ;  certainly  not,   if 
he  be  the  happiest  who  is  the  most  virtuous. 

Take  a  practical  illustration  :  Is  a  child 
really  better,  or  more  virtuous,  because  he 
has  refrained  from  doinor  an  interdicted  thinof 
for  fear  of  the  punishment  which  awaited 
him  ?  and  would  he  grow  up  under  such  a 
course  of  training  a  better  man  ?  Assuredly 
not ;  for  his  whole  aim  then,  would  be  simply 
and  entirely  to  enjoy  as  much,  and  suffer  as 
little,  as  possible.  He  might,  through  this 
continual  fear  of  punishment,  form  an  exterior 
habit  of  right  conduct,  of  outward  morality, 
which  would  pass  him  reputably  through  life. 
But  would  he  be  inwardly  and  really  a  better 
man  ?  Assuredly  not ;  and  it  needs  only  an 
adequate  temptation  to  break  that  habit,  and 
disprove  the  false  philosophy  in  which  he  had 
been  reared.  We  see  It  every  day.  But  let 
the  child  be  sound  at  the  core,  at  the  heart, 
without  regard  to  what  Is  external — to  the 
husks  of  a  base  expediency  ;  let  him  be  taught 
to  follow,  unfettered  by  theological  systems, 
the  dictates  of  his  conscience,  and  obey  the 


30  THE  PKOTESTANT  FAITH. 

divine  mandate  within  him,  and  then  what 
end  shall  there  be  to  his  noble  aspirations  ! 
He  will  be  prepared  to  enter — aye,  will  actu- 
ally have  already  entered  on  immortal  life. 

Alas,  that  so  many  pure  natures  should 
have  strueeled  and  sorrowed  under  so  much 
ignorance  and  superstition  in  endeavoring  to 
reconcile  their  own  inward  promptings  with 
the  so-called  inspired,  but  really  most  unrea- 
sonable faith,  said  to  have  been  *'  once  deliv- 
''  ered  to  the  saints  !  " 

VII. 

The  Nature  of  Beliefs  and  Opinions. 

I  now  pass  to  the  consideration  of  the  sec- 
ond main  proposition,  viz.:  that  all  belief  is 
involuntary,  and  is  that  which,  of  our  own 
will,  we  can  neither  choose,  change,  nor  con- 
trol.     It  is  therefore  not  blameworthy. 

This  position  is  not  new,  having  received 
the  sanction  of  some  of  the  best  minds  in 
every  age. 

Concernino-  the  followers   of    the   once  fa- 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  31 

moiis  Duns  Scotus,  Sir  James  Mackintosh 
says:  ''The  Scotlsts  affirmed  the  blameless- 
**  ness  of  erroneous  opinions ;  a  principle 
**  which  is  the  only  effectual  security  for  con- 
"scientious  enquiry,  for  mutual  kindness  and 
"  for  public  quiet."  * 

Mackintosh  also  declares  :  ''  It  is  as  absurd 
''  to  entertain  an  abhorrence  of  intellectual 
"  inferiority  or  error,  however  extensive  or 
*'  mischievous,  as  it  would  be  to  cherish  a 
'*  warm  indignation  against  earthquakes  or 
''hurricanes/'f 

Other  writers  are  equally  to  the  point.  A 
very  old  one  says:  *'We  know  that  faith 
"•  comes  by  persuasion,  and  is  not  to  be  con- 
^'trouled."$ 

Another,  still  older,  and  of  high  authority 

in   the   Church,   says  :  "  Religion  by  compul- 

''sion   is   no   longer   religion;   it   must  be  by 

**  persuasion,  and  not  by  constraint.      Religion 

**  is  under  no  control,  and  cannot  by  power 

*'be  directed."  § 

=^  Elh.  Phil.  Vol.  I.  p.  46.  t  Ibid.  p.  150. 

X  Flechier,  Bishop  of  Nismes,  Lett.  10. 
§  Lactantius,  B.  3. 


3  2  THE  PRO  TES TANT  FAITH. 

Citations  from  more  modern  philosophers 
and  thinkers  might  be  added  without  number. 
A  few  will  suffice  :  ''  Our  will  hath  no  power 
''  to  determine  the  knowledge  of  the  mind 
''  one  way  or  the  other.  No  more  than  in 
''  objects  of  sight  it  depends  on  the  will  to  see 
''  that  black  which  appears  to  be  yellow,  or  in 
''  feeling  to  persuade  ourselves  that  what 
''  scalds  us  feels  cold."  * 

*'  It  does  not  depend  on  man  to  believe  or 
"  not  to  believe."  f 

''  It   is  not  in   our  power  to  judge  as  we 

'^wiir$ 

''In  total  and  absolute  error  all  conscious- 
**ness  perishes."  § 

'*  Thought  and  belief  have  not  yet  become 
*'  choice."  II 

*'  Our  opinions  on  any  subject  are  not  vol- 
'' untary  acts  but  involuntary  effects."^ 

*  Locke,  "  Essay  on  the  Human  Understanding,"  Vol. 
II.  Chap.  13. 

t  Locke,  Letter  on  Toleration. 

X  Reid,  Essay  on  the  Intellectual  Powers,  p.  545. 

§  Cousin,  Hist.  Mod.  Phil.  p.  136. 

II  Hickok,  Moral  Phil.  p.  212. 

^  Samuel  Bailey,  Essays  on  Opinions  and  Truth. 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  33 

'*  Belief  is  not  an  act  of  volition."  * 

''  He  [man]  is  impelled  by  the  very  consti- 
'  tution  of  his  nature,  to  believe  if  there  is  ev- 
'  idence ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  he  is  utterly 
'unable  to  believe  if  evidence  is  wanting."  f 

''  Philosophical  belief  is  a  spontaneous  as- 
'  sent  or  adhesion  of  the  mind."  % 

''  Be  not  deceived  ;  belief  of,  or  mere  assent 
'  to  the  truth  of  propositions  upon  evidence 
'  is  not  a  virtue,  nor  unbelief  a  vice  ;  faith  is 
'  not  a  voluntary  act,  it  does  not  depend  upon 
'  the  will ;  every  man  must  believe  or  disbe- 

*  lieve,  whether  he  will  or  not,  according  as 
'evidence  appears  to  him.      If  therefore  men 

*  however  dignified  or  distinguished  command 
'  us  to  believe,  they  are  guilty  of  the  highest 
'folly  and  absurdity,  because  it  is  out  of  our 
'  power ;  but  if  they  command  us  to  believe, 
'  and  annex  rewards  to  belief,  and  severe  pen- 
'  alties  to  unbelief,  then  they  are  most  wicked 
'  and  immoral,   because   they  annex    rewards 

^  Percy  B3^sshe  Shelley, 
t  Upham,  Treatise  on  the  Will,  p.  92. 
X  Sir  William  Hamilton,  Philosoplw,.  p..  158.. 
3 


34  THE  PROTESrANT  FAITH. 

"  and  punishments  to  what  is  involuntary,  and 
''therefore    neither    rewardable    or    punisha- 

-ble."* 

These  conclusions  appear  to  be  fully  war- 
ranted for  the  following  reasons  : 

First:  If  belief  be  voluntary,  why  should 
there  be  any  doubt,  or  uncertainty,  or  degrees 
of  probability  in  the  world?  It  is  plain  that 
were  belief  consequent  upon  the  will,  there 
need  be  no  such  thing  as  doubt ;  for  then  one 
would  only  will  to  have  any  belief  in  order  to 
possess  it. 

Let  one  reflect  whether  he  can  change  or 
choose  his  belief  at  pleasure  ;  he  will  find  he 
cannot,  and  that  it  is  beyond  his  power,  even 
with  a  dishonest  or  evil  purpose,  to  believe 
for  the  time  otherwise  than  he  does.  It  is 
true  that  he  may  and  must,  from  time  to  time, 
chanee  his  belief  as  new  evidence  is  presented 
to  him,  or  as  he  more  carefully  considers  that 
already  before  him  ;  but  for  the  time  being 
he  cannot,  if  he  would,  believe  otherwise  than 
he  does. 

*  Letter  of  William  Pitt. 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH,  35 

Second:  Belief  is  simply  the  result  of 
thought ;  it  is  a  mental  state  or  condition. 
Its  primary  signification  is  to  assent  to/^ 
Hence  it  depends  wholly  upon  evidence;  and 
in  the  very  same  ratio  as  the  evidence  appeals 
to  our  consciousness  for  its  reception,  so  is 
our  belief.  Thus  we  speak  of  "  full,"  ''  firm," 
and  ''strong"  belief — belief  which  we  call 
knowledge — belief  which  admits  of  doubt — 
and  various  degrees  of  probability.  We  may 
repel  the  evidence,  but  over  the  belief  conse- 
quent upon  that  evidence,  are  powerless. 

Third :  It  will  be  seen,  on  reflection,  that 
one  cannot  rationally  retain  a  belief  which  his 
judgment  repudiates.  Therefore,  one  cannot 
rationally  admit  his  present  beliefs  to  be  erro- 
neous ;  for  just  as  soon  as  he  thinks  that  they 
are  erroneous,  they  cease  to  be  his  beliefs; 
and  since  he  cannot  consciously  err  in  his  be- 
liefs, his  erroneous  beliefs  are  involuntary. 

From  which  it  follows,  that  what  in  me  is, 
for  the  time,  error,  does  not  receive  that  name 
from    any  judgment   of  mine,    but   from   the 

*  Webster. 


3  ^  THE  PR  O  TES  TANT  FA  ITH. 

judgment  of  others  ;  and  whosoever  avers 
that  I  err  In  opinion,  assumes  all  the  points  In 
discussion  betweeij  us  ;  he  substantially  de- 
nies to  me  what  he  claims  for  himself,  namely, 
authority  to  pass  upon  the  question. 

Whence  it  also  appears  that  error  is  igno- 
rance ;  an  idea  well  expressed  by  Cousin  : 
**  In  total  and  absolute  error  all  consciousness 
^'  perishes." 

Fou7dh  :  Belief  is  not  volition  nor  anything 
like  it ;  It  has  no  more  necessary  connection 
with  the  will  than  the  idea  of  number  has  with 
the  idea  of  justice. 

The  expression,  *'  I  believe,"  is  conven- 
tional, and  is  used  in  the  same  manner  as  we 
say  I  "feel,"  or  "hear"  or  "  see  "  or  "am." 
That  Is,  the  /,  the  Ego,  ikv^  personality,  takes 
cognizance  of  some  impression  on  the  mind  or 
sense,  observes  some  phenomenon,  or  appear- 
ance, and  passes  upon  it  authoritatively.  The 
will  appertains  to  the  personality,  but  not  to 
the  judgment  ;  and  while  objects  of  thought, 
or  phenomena,  may,  through  the  exercise  of 
the  will,  or  regardless  of  the  will,  be  presented 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  37 

to  the  judgment,  the  conclusion  of  the  judg- 
ment itself,  or,  what  Is  the  same  thing,  the 
authoritative,  conclusive,  subjective  assertion 
of  the  Ego  in  respect  to  such  phenomena,  Is 
involuntary. 

We  can  direct  our  attention  and  investi- 
gate ;  but  the  results  of  that  Investigation — 
our  conclusions — will  stand  before  us  regard- 
less of  our  wishes  or  intentions  In  the  matter. 

Abercromble  admits  that  ''the  state  of  mind 
"  which  constitutes  belief  Is,  indeed,  one  over 
"which  the  will  has  no  direct  power.  But," 
he  goes  on  to  say,  ''belief  depends  upon  evi- 
"dence  ;  the  result  of  even  the  best  evidence 
"  is  entirely  dependent  on  attention  ;  and  at- 
"  tentlon  Is  a  voluntary  intellectual  state  over 
"which  we  have  a  direct  and  absolute  con- 
"troL"'*' 

Dr.  Chalmers  states  the  case  thus : 

"  Lord  Byron's  assertion  that  '  Man  Is  not 

"  responsible  for  his  belief,'  seems  to  have  pro- 

"ceeded  from  the  Imagination  that  belief  is  in 

"no  case  voluntary.      Now,  it  Is  very  true  that 

*  Moral  Feelings,  p.  182. 


38  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH. 

''  we  are  only  responsible  for  what  is  volun- 
''  tary,  and  it  is  also  true  that  we  cannot  be- 
"  lieve  without  evidence.  But  then  it  is  a 
^*  very  possible  thing  that  a  doctrine  may  pos- 
*'sess  the  most  abundant  evidence,  and  yet 
''not  be  believed,  just  because  we  choose  to 
''shut  our  eyes  against  it  ;  and  our  unbelief  in 
"this  case  is  owinof  not  to  the  want  of  evi- 
"  dence,  but  to  the  evidence  not  being  at- 
"  tended  to.  Grant  that  belief  is  not  a  volun- 
"tary  act — it  is  quite  enough  for  the  refuta- 
"tion  of  Lord  Byron's  principle,  if  attention 
"be  a  voluntary  act.  One  attends  to  a  sub- 
"ject  because  he  chooses;  or  he  does  not  at- 
"  tend  to  it  because  he  so  chooses.  It  is  the 
"  fact  of  the  attention  being  given  or  withheld, 
"which  forms  the  thing  that  is  to  be  morally 
"reckoned  with.  And  if  the  attention  has 
"been  withheld  when  it  ought  to  have  been 
"  given,  for  this  we  are  the  subjects  of  a  right- 
"ful  condemnation." 

I  admit  attention  to  be  a  voluntary  act; 
but,  while  insisting,  for  reasons  hereafter  ex- 
plained, that  it  is  not  one's  duty  even  to  inves- 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH,  39 

tigate  a  subject  unless  he  thinks  It  to  be  his 
duty  to  do  so,  it  is  evident  that  Dr.  Chalmers 
has  not  met  the  question.  He  would  instruct 
us  that  because  a  man  has  power  over  his  will, 
he  can  therefore  control  his  senses  ;  because 
he  can  thrust  his  finger  into  the  fire  or  with- 
hold it,  it  is  optional  with  him  to  be  free  from 
pain  ;  because  he  has  the  ability  to  reason  or 
not,  that  is,  to  direct  his  attention,  he  need 
not  come  to  any  conclusion ;  because  he  can 
think  when  he  chooses,  he  can  believe  as  he 
chooses.  Of  course  a  clear  statement  of  the 
proposition  carries  its  own  refutation. 

It  is  said  that  because  belief  depends  upon 
attention  to  the  evidence  offered,  and  atten- 
tion depends  upon  the  will,  I  am  therefore.  In 
a  secondary  sense,  accountable  for  the  belief, 
because  accountable  for  my  voluntary  disposi- 
tion. Because  not  strictly  correct,  the  state- 
ment Is  not  correct  at  all.  It  Is  plain  that 
while  I  can  fix  my  attention,  and  look,  I  can- 
not tell  beforehand  whether  the  color  will  be 
white  or  black  ;  and  it  Is  equally  plain  that 
while  the  attention  Is  voluntary  and  controlled 


40  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH. 

by  the  will,  the  belief  or  conclusion  following 
the  attention,  is  not  at  all  voluntary.  And  if 
the  belief  be  not  voluntary,  then  Byron's  as- 
sertion that  *'  Man  is  not  responsible  for  his  be- 
''lief"  is  unquestionably  correct;  and  it  does 
not  suffice  for  the  refutation  of  that  state- 
ment to  show  the  act  of  attention  to  be  vol- 
untary. 

For  our  voluntary  dispositions,  for  the  at- 
tention, as  the  legitimate  act  of  the  person,  it 
is  said  that  we  are  accountable.  Be  it  so  ; 
but  the  argument  can  go  no  further  than 
that. 

While  the  will  may,  and  does,  direct  the  at- 
tention, it  has  no  power  over  the  belief,  which 
results  independently  of  the  volition,  and 
independently  of  the  attention  also.  The 
utmost  attention  by  different  persons  does 
not  ensure  the  same  belief,  and  precisely 
the  same  evidence  is  not  always  regarded  by 
different  persons  alike  ;  nor  does  it  invariably 
lead  in  different  minds  to  the  same  conclusion. 
Nay  more,  the  very  same  evidence,  presented 
at  different  times  to  the  same  mind  does  not 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  4I 

always  lead  to  the  same  conclusion  ;  but  in 
neither  case  is  the  conclusion  a  matter  of  will. 

Had  Abercrombie  and  Chalmers  reflected  a 
moment,  they  must  have  seen  the  manifest 
difference  between  attention  as  an  act  of  the 
will,  and  belief  as  the  result  of  that  attention  ; 
the  one  being  voluntary,  the  other  involun- 
tary. 

A  man  who  shutting  his  eyes  fires  into 
the  street  and  kills  another,  is  not  punished 
for  killing  the  identical  person  who  happens 
to  be  hit,  but  for  the  antecedent  intention  and 
purpose  of  his  mind.  True,  he  is  not  pun- 
ished as  for  murder,  if  no  one  be  injured,  be- 
cause human  laws  take  cognizance  of  overt 
acts  merely,  of  the  intention  only  when  it  is 
accompanied  by'  a  result  ;  but  in  a  moral  as- 
pect, the  purpose  alone  is  considered,  as  ap- 
pears from  the  circumstance  that  where  the 
purpose  is  shown  to  be  wanting,  no  crime  can 
be  imputed. 

The  voluntary  disposition  of  the  person  de- 
termines the  quality  of  his  moral  actions,  oc- 
casions the  sense  of  approval  and  disapproval, 


42  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH, 

and  renders  him  deserving  of  praise  or  blame. 
This  the  child,  as  soon  as  he  is  able  to  reflect, 
the  man,  and  everybody  knows. 

I  therefore  conclude  that,  strictly  and  hence 
correctly  speaking,  all  belief — and,  of  course, 
all  erroneous  belief — is  in  itself  wholly  invol- 
untary ;  and  for  that  reason  no  one  should  be 
censured  for  his  belief  or  disbelief  upon  any 
subject  however  sacred  or  profane,  whether 
such  belief  be  thought  by  others  to  be  errone- 
ous or  not,  or  even  pernicious. 

This  point,  if  well  taken,  it  cannot  be  de- 
nied, strikes  at  the  very  existence  of  the 
churches,  and  is  fatal  to  their  present  form  of 
organization.  For,  were  they  to  retain  all 
persons  of  right  intentions  and  pure  disposi- 
tions, and  reject  all  others— taking  members 
for  what  they  are,  that  is  for  their  characters 
and  motives  rather  than  for  their  doctrines — 
or  for  what  they  say  are  their  doctrines — 
would  not  the  complexion  of  the  churches  be 
materially  changed  ? 

Riorht  intentions  do  not,  as  has  been  seen, 

o 

necessarily  or  often  ensure  the  same  beliefs. 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  43 

How  those  intentions  are  to  be  arrived  at, 
(since  the  creeds  do  not  determine  them,) 
whether  by  the  assertion  of  the  individual 
himself,  (for  he  may  tell  an  untruth,)  or  by 
the  judgment  of  his  fellow  communicants,  (for 
they  may  be  deceived,)  it  is  difficult  to  say. 
I  leave  the  solution  of  this  hard  problem  to 
the  churches  themselves. 

The  idea  that  men  are  accountable  for  their 
beliefs  and  opinions  in  a  secondary,  but 
strictly  incorrect  and  most  unphiloscphical 
sense,  rather  than  for  conscientious  action- 
making  creed  rather  than  character  the  crite- 
rion of  morality— although  it  seems  at  first  a 
trifling  and  unimportant  distinction,  has  been 
and  is  now  a  gross  theological  and  metaphys- 
ical error — the  most  gross  and  vital  in  its  ef- 
fects of  any  recorded  by  history  ;  having  need- 
lessly excited  the  animosity  of  one  class  or 
sect  against  another — of  the  civilized  against 
the  barbarous— of  the  Jew  against  the  Gen- 
tile— of  the  Protestant  against  the  Catholic. 
It  has  occasioned  terrible  devastating  wars  • 
the  annulling  of  private  friendships  and  pub- 


44  THE  PR  O  TES  TA  NT  FA  ITH. 

lie    comities ;    and    has    inflicted    incalculable 
evils  upon  the  whole  human  race. 

1  am  aware  where  I  stand.  I  stand  on  a 
platform  which  holds  sectarianism,  in  its  ex- 
clusive form,  to  be  both  irreligious  and  un- 
philosophical,  and  all  wars  of  sects  unholy  ; 
which  throws  down  the  barriers  between 
''evangelical"  and  '' unevangelical  "  denomi- 
nations, and  renders  meaningless  those  terms 
as  now  applied  ;  and  which  summons  all  men 
—  Christians  and  Pagans  —  from  unseemly 
contentions  to  obedience  to  the  high  rule  of 
tolerance  and  charity. 

I  think  I  have  fully  demonstrated  the  two 
propositions  with  which  I  set  out ;  namely  : 
that  salvation  is  not  a  proper  incentive  to  the 
performance  of  duty ;  and  that  belief  is  invol- 
untary. 

In  no  sense  did  this  so-called  scheme  of  re- 
demption—salvation through  faith  or  belief, 
(''the  just  shall  live  by  faith,") — as  understood 
by  Luther  and  his  followers,  contain  the  solu- 
tion of  any  religious  question.  It  did  not  dif- 
fer in  kind  from  the  theology  of  the  Roman 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  45 

Church.  To  Luther's  assertion  of  the  neces- 
sity of  free  thought,  and  the  right  of  free 
speech,  together  with  the  revival  of  letters, 
must  be  attributed  the  great  uprising  of  his 
age ;  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  Prot- 
estants, in  embracing  and  giving  such  prom- 
inence to  religious  tenets — especially  the  error 
of  adopting  creeds  as  a  test  of  membership  in 
their  churches — have  failed  to  comprehend 
their  own  history,  and  totally  lost  sight  of  the 
principle  of  personal  authority  and  individual 
judgment,  which  is  the  foundation  and  root  of 
every  protestation  they  have  ever  uttered. 

VIII. 

Concluding  Remarks. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  because  any 
particular  beliefs  are  unessential  to  a  religious 
life,  or  because  beliefs  and  opinions  are  invol- 
untary, they  are  thence  unimportant.  So  far 
as  the  performance  of  one's  own  duty  goes,  be- 
lief is  Indeed  of  no  consequence  ;  because  duty 
does  not  consist  in  believing.      But  doubtless 


46  THE  PR  O  TES  TA  NT  FA  ITH. 

the  happiness  and  well-being  of  mankind  de- 
pend very  much  upon  the  opinions  which  they 
hold  ;  since  men  will  act  more  or  less  In  ac- 
cordance with  their  opinions  and  beliefs, 
whether  well  founded  or  not.  For  example, 
public  sentiment  respecting  drunkenness,  slav- 
ery, and  very  many  questions  affecting  the  so- 
cial relations,  has  within  a  few  years  under- 
gone a  marked  change  ;  and  thus  have  arisen 
In  men's  minds  new  Ideas  of  their  rights  and 
duties  as  to  those  relations  ;  and  all  honest 
men  will  act  in  accordance  with  their  new  be- 
liefs. 

The  churches  have  always  deemed  them- 
selves obliged  to  conform  to  the  current  no- 
tions of  right  and  wrong,  of  virtue  and  vice, 
and  have  disciplined  their  members  accord- 
ingly. A  church  member  Is  now  expelled  for 
drunkenness  when  he  would  not  have  been  a 
century  ago. 

The  churches  practically  cannot  live  on 
their  faith  alone.  The  faith  is  not  enough. 
The  conduct  according  to  the  professed  faith 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  47 

is  and  must  be  a  necessary  test  In  addition  to 
the  formal  creeds. 

I  am  no  iconoclast.  I  am  willing  that  the 
churches,  synagogues,  mosques,  and  temples 
of  all  peoples  and  climes,  should  stand  just 
where  they  are  until  better  ones  can  be  built 
upon  their  sites  ;  I  admit  the  fact  of  number- 
less religions  in  the  world,  and  do  not  forget 
the  multitude  of  Christian  sects;*  I  recog- 
nize the  sanction  of  martyrdom  for  every 
faith,  right  or  wrong.  I  recognize  alike  the 
great  moral  points  of  agreement  between 
Buddhism,  Mohammedanism,  and  Christian- 
ity, and  the  minor  theoretical  divergences  be- 
tween them  all.  In  a  word,  I  recognize  the 
voice  of  conscience,  everywhere  and  among 
all  men.  And  while  mindful  of  these  things, 
I  insist  that  others  shall  not  ignore  them. 

Let  the  sectarian,  whoever  he  may  be,  place 
his  own  church  or  his  own  sect  alongside 
these  facts  of  history,  and  tell  us,  if  he  can, 
what  is  the  religious  element  common  to  all 

*  See  Appendix.     Note  2, 


48  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH. 

religious    organizations ;  what    is    the   law  of 
duty  that  applies  to  man  universally. 

That  such  a  law  or  principle  exists — a  law 
which  shall  solve  the  riddle  of  the  broad 
church — precisely  define  the  terms  ''virtue" 
and  ''  moral  obligation  " — assign  to  moralities 
their  exact  place  in  ethics,  and  at  the  same 
time  satisfactorily  account  for  the  different 
religious  phases  of  the  world,  is,  and  always 
has  been,  the  great,  central  idea  of  theology. 
For  without  such  a  law  there  is  no  one  relig- 
ion for  the  race. 

The  lawgivers  and  religious  Instructors,  of 
whatever  creed  or  nation,  proceed  upon  the 
assumption  of  one  universal  moral  law.  Upon 
it  are  founded  our  ideas  of  justice,  of  virtue, 
and  the  equal  accountability  of  mankind. 

*'  All  nations  have  in  truth  only  one  rellg- 
"  Ion,"  says  Bucer. 

•'  Such  a  rule  "  (says  HIckok)  "  must  be  ap- 
"  prehended  by  the  subject,  and  thus  promul- 
*'eated  to  the  conscience,  and  must  be  so  uni- 
'*  versal  that  it  may  come  home  in  its  convic- 
•'  tions  to  the  consciences  of  the  race,  other- 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  49 

*'  wise  there  can  be  no  valid  ground  for  a  com- 
'*  prehensive  science  of  morals."* 

This  law  existed  in  the  human  mind  ante- 
rior to  the  Christian  revelation  ;  nay,  it  must 
exist  apart  from  any  outward  revelation. 

Sir  James  Mackintosh  remarks  :  "■  If  there 
*'  were  no  foundation  for  morality  antecedent 
"■  to  revealed  religion,  we  should  want  that 
"  important  test  of  the  conformity  of  a  revela- 
''  tion  to  pure  morality  by  which  its  claim  to 
'*  a  divine  origin  is  to  be  tried."  f 

The  law  is  within  the  individual  as  a  pri- 
mary, axiomatic,  universal  intuition.  A  law 
not  always  nor  often  perhaps,  objectively  ap- 
prehended;  but  this  is  immaterial,  since  the 
deductions  and  analogies  of  science  continu- 
ally remind  us  that  we  live  under  and  are  sub- 
ject to  innumerable  laws  of  which  we  have  no 
conception.  Says  Cicero :  ''  The  same  eter- 
''  nal  immutable  law  comprehends  all  nations, 
''  at  all  times,  under  one  common  Master  and 
''  Governor  of  all." 

*  Moral  Philosophy,  p.  32. 
t  Eth.  PhiL  p.  155. 
4 


5 O  THE  PR 0  TES TA NT  FAITH. 

What,  then,  is  this  rule — this  reHgious  law  ? 

I  know  of  no  other  than  the  simple  law  of 
nature  that  conviction  is  the  criterion  of  duty. 

St.  Paul  said  :  '*  To  him  that  esteemeth  any 
"thing  to  be  unclean,  to  him  it  is  unclean."* 

And  Christ :  ''  If  ye  were  blind  ye  should 
''have  no  sin  ;  but  now  ye  say,  we  see  ;  there- 
*' fore  your  sin  remaineth."f 

The  followers  of  Zwingle  said  (rather  in- 
consistently with  their  creed)  :  ''  What  is  not 
"  faith  is  sin.  If  therefore  we  constrain  Chris- 
"  tians  to  do  what  they  deem  unjust  we  force 
"  them  to  sin."  J 

Luther  himself  declared  at  the  Diet  of 
Worms  :  ''  It  is  neither  just  nor  innocent  to 
"  act  asfainst  a  man's  conscience."  § 

Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher  is  reported  to 
have  said  that,  *'  Sound  doctrine  is  truth,  pur- 
*'  ity,  love,  good  works ;  and  bad  living  is 
"  heresy  in  the  New   Testament.      Nay,"  he 

*  Rom.  xiv.  14. 
t  John  ix.  41. 

X  Merle  d'Aubigne,  Hist,  Ref.  Vol.  IV.  p.  73. 
§  John  Scott,  Luther  and  the  Lutheran  Reformation, 
Vol.  L  p.  133. 


THE  PRO  TESTANT  FAITH.  5 1 

adds,  "■  I  go  further  and  say,  that  nowhere  In 
''  the  New  Testament  can  the  term  heresy  be 
''found  appHed  to  any  error  of  belief,  but 
*'  only  to  error  of  life." 

No  nobler  thought  was  ever  uttered  than 
that  attributed  to  Abraham  Lincoln :  *'  To 
"do  the  right  as  God  gives  me  to  see  the 
''  right." 

From  the  recognition  of  this  common  au- 
thoritative consciousness,  which  declares  the 
performance  of  duty  to  consist  In  no  seeking 
for  a  personal  benefit,  and  In  no  belief,  but 
simply  In  the  effort  to  live  conformably  to 
one's  beliefs,  however  for  the  time  they  hap- 
pen to  be ;  true  to  one's  self,  honestly  and 
without  hypocrisy,  making  Christianity,  (or 
by  whatever  name  It  may  be  known,)  as  Col- 
eridge has  It,  ''  not  a  theory,  or  a  speculation, 
''  but  a  life — not  the  philosophy  of  life,  but  a 
**  life  and  a  living  process,"  will  arise  the  New 
Church,  (If  a  Church  be  possible,)  rhe  coming 
Reformation. 

Has  It  not  already  begun  ? 

I  can  only  advert  to  It,  but  It  would  be  easy 


52  THE  TROTESTANT  FAITH. 

to  demonstrate  how  the  present  various  re- 
ligious movements  are  vindicating  my  con- 
clusions, not  merely  in  an  occasional  man- 
ner, but  In  their  whole  tendency;  how  free 
thought,  liberal  sentiments,  and  the  multiply- 
ing diversities  of  opinion  consequent  upon  an 
increasing  intelligence,  are  producing  those 
mental  and  social  conditions  which  will  ere 
long  render  it  impossible  to  hold  any  body  of 
men-  together  by  what  are  called  ''essential 
^'truths."  Instead  of  vainly  striving  for  a 
unity  of  belief,  it  w^ill  be  seen  that  civihzation 
advances  in  the  precise  ratio  of  the  multipli- 
cation of  beliefs.*  The  human  intellect  will 
then  be  truly  free. 

Bound  to  no  assumed  facts  or  asserted  au- 
thoritative data,  the  lover  of  science  will  pur- 
sue his  investio-ations  without  fear  of  discred- 
iting  the  statements  of  the  Bible  ;  and  the 
theologian  will  find   somethinor  better  to  do 

*  In  this  respect  I  cannot  agree  with  ]o\\\-\  Stuart  Mill, 
who  says,  that  "  As  mankind  improve,  the  number  of  doc- 
"trines  which  are  no  longer  disputed  or  doubted,  will  be 
"  constantly  on  the  increase."     (Essay  on  Liberty^ 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  53 

than  wasting  his  time  In  childish  disputes  re- 
specting the  construction,  interpretation,  and 
truth  of  that  book. 

Such  beHefs  and  opinions  as  do  not  affect 
the  well-being  of  mankind  will  be  deemed  o£ 
little  account,  and  efforts  tending  to  elevate 
humanity  will  soon,  in  one  form  or  another, 
take  the  place  of  liturgy  and  creed. 

But  I  charge  evangelical  clergymen  with  In- 
consistency. Without  committing  myself  to 
the  ''  higher  law"  doctrine,  as  they  understand 
It,"^  I  desire  to  inquire  whether  the  recognition 
of  that  doctrine  by  them,  (and  it  Is  quite  gen- 
eral,) detracts  nothing  from  the  force  of  the 
Thirty-Nine  Articles?  Are  we  to  be  told, 
and  to  believe  because  so  told,  that  rieht  and 
wrong  are  really  relative  ideas — that  convic- 
tion of  duty  is  the  only  guide  to  Its  perform- 
ance, and,  in  the  same  breath,  that  there  Is 
some  other  guide  ?  Shall  we  accept  the 
higher  law  of  moral  obligation,  and  with  It  the 
lower  rule  of  the  Church  ?  Shall  we  declare 
for  free-will,  for  a  conscious  moral  volition, 
*  See  Appendix.     Note  3. 


54  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH. 

and  be  bound  down  to  a  belief  to  which  our 
understandinor  refuses  its  assent  ? 

The  intelHgence  of  the  masses  has  already- 
risen  to  the  level  of  these  questions,  and  is 
/lemonstrating  how  a  people  will  be  provided 
with  that  religion,  as  well  as  political  life,  for 
which  they  are  fitted. 

The  clergy,  orthodox  and  heterodox,  con- 
ceding something  to  the  popular  sentiment,' 
have  pretty  much  left  off  talking  about  the 
creed,  except  for  church  and  state  purposes, 
and  tell  us  now  that  faith  is  not  bare  belief  ; 
but  hope,  trust,  enthusiasm,  sentiment ;  a  mat- 
ter of  the  heart,  love  of  God,  love  of  man- 
kind ;  a  living  faith  ;  a  state  of  mind  which, 
according  to  Aquinas,  leads  to  belief — almost 
anything  and  everything  except  belief ;  that 
religion  has  passed  historically  from  belief 
into  feeling,  and  from  feeling  into  action — into 
good  works,  charitable  objects,  and  the  like, 
wherein  all  can  be  agreed. 

Do  they  really  think  so  ?  Is  there  a  Church 
which  will  accept,  as  its  condition  of  member- 
ship, the  definition  which  St.  James  gives  of 


THE  PR 0  TES  TA NT  FAITH.  5  5 

religion  :  ''  Pure  religion  and  undefiled,  before 
"  God,  even  the  Father,  is  this :  To  visit  the 
'*  fatherless  and  the  widows  in  their  affliction, 
''  so  as  to  keep  oneself  unspotted  from  the 
^'world"?* 

Can  you,  O  most  moral,  philanthropic,  con- 
scientious man,  connect  yourself  with  their 
body  ?  Try  it.  Are  3'^ou  excluded  by  no  want 
of  faith,  by  no  heretical  doctrine  ?  Their 
churches  and  Christian  associations,  founded 
in  the  eternal  fitness  of  things,  are  not  con- 
ventional bodies,  with  arbitrary  rules,  but 
claim  to  be  holy  catholic  churches,  and  evan- 
gelical associations,  with  broad  aisles  and  open 
doors.  To  the  communion  of  those  churches 
are  invited  every  tongue  and  tribe  upon  the 
habitable  globe,  and  vast  expenditures  for 
tracts  and  missionaries  attest  hovv^  sincere  and 
urgent  is  the  invitation.  But  the  poor  hea- 
then scarcely  approaches  the  door  of  the  sanct- 
uary before  he  discovers  some  stumbling- 
block  in  the  shape  of  a  ''creed,"  which  he  is 

*  James  i.  27.     Our  common  version  does  not  quite  ex- 
press the  meaning  of  the  original. 


S^  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH. 

enjoined  to  believe,  but  which  he  soon  learns 
that  Christians  themselves  do  not  fully  under- 
stand, and  about  the  meaning  and  Interpreta- 
tion of  which  few  of  them  are  agreed. 

Is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  heathen 
and  uncultivated  remain  unconverted  to  prop- 
ositions which  even  the  most  enlightened  and 
cultivated  fail  to  comprehend  ?  * 

The  pagan  Is  told  that  the  Bible  is  an  au- 
thority. But  how,  as  a  bare  a7Ukority,  is  it 
preferable  to  the  Vedas  ?  For  the  authority 
Is  not  in  the  Bible  Itself,  nor  in  those  who 
wrote  it,  but  in  him  who  reads  It  and  passes 
upon  It.  As  an  authority /^r  se,  admitting  of 
no  question  or  comment,  (and  If  authoritative 
It  cannot  be  questioned,)  It  can  have  no 
greater  force  than  any  other  book. 

I  concede  to  the  Bible  all  the  weleht  to 
which  it  is  entitled  In  the  light  of  my  own 
judgment.  No  other  test  is  possible  by  me 
than  that. 

Religion  in   its    noblest,  broadest   accepta- 
tion, recognizes  no  ultimate  authority  foreign 
*  See  Appendix.     Note  4. 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  57 

to  the  person  himself.  It  defines  no  peculiar 
belief  or  creed  which  is  orthodox  to-day  and 
heterodox  to-morrow.  The  aspirations  of  the 
Christian  Church  toward  its  highest  ideals, 
regardless  of  creeds,  account  sufficiently  for 
its  past  successes.  It  has  an  aspect  apart 
from  its  speculative  theology. 

With  increasing  intelligence  and  a  higher 
moral  culture,  comes  a  juster  sense  of  mutual 
relations  and  responsibilities ;  and  the  con- 
formity of  men  to  those  ideas  in  any  age, 
measures  in  history  the  Christianity  as  well  as 
civilization  of  that  period."^ 

Certain  Churches  have  attempted  to  evade 
the  question  of  the  essential  character  of  be- 
liefs by  putting  articles  of  faith  to  vote,  and 
then  promulgating  them  as  a  mere  statement 
of  the  belief  of  the  members,  as  their  ^'aver- 
''  age  sentiment,"  without  imposing  them  upon 
the  individual  conscience.  But  it  must  be 
perfectly  evident  that  so  soon  as  a  Church  re- 
linquishes the  essential  character  of  its  creeds, 
and  simply  holds  itself  out  as  a  body  of  men 
*  See  Appendix.     Note  5. 


5 8  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH. 

professing  a  common  faith,  it  has  lost  its 
claim  to  be  called  a  Church,  in  any  received 
acceptation  of  the  term,  and  admits  itself  to 
be  without  ecclesiastical  authority. 

The  religious  spirit  of  our  age,  advancing 
in  the  direction  we  have  been  pursuing,  seeks 
something  better  than  the  restoration  of  a  be- 
lief— even  of  one  universal  belief — or  of  a 
spiritual  unity.  It  demands  the  statement  of 
a  rational  principle  which  logically  deduces 
morality  from  the  sense  of  moral  obligation  ; 
to  faith  adds  w^orks  ;  justifies  all  truly  good 
m-en,  of  whatever  creed  or  race,  who  have  ever 
lived  ;  and,  throwing  open  the  door  for  inves- 
tigation, finds  use  for  the  material  already  ac- 
quired in  the  march  of  general  improvement. 
Especially  does  it  aim  to  abate  the  rancor  of 
sectarianism,  by  uniting  in  closer  bonds  the 
human  family.  To  this  end  the  material  and 
commercial  interests  of  the  world  are  rapidly 
converging.  To  this  end  science  is  also  tend- 
ing. 

And  if  it  can  be  affirmed  that  the  perform- 
ance of  duty  consists  neither  in  believing  nor 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  $9 

in  disbelieving;  but  in  being  true  to  one's 
self,  in  a  continual  advancement  toward  the 
highest  ideal,  whether  that  ideal  be  reason, 
sentiment,  revelation,  inspiration,  the  inner 
light,  or  in  whatever  else  it  consists,  or  what- 
ever else  it  be  called — so  that  it  meets  with  a 
personal  approval — then  there  Is  eliminated 
from  theology  that  which  occasions  sects.  And 
in  emerging  from  them,  we  embrace  at  once 
in  our  communion  the  whole  human  brother- 
hood. 

'^  An  eloquent  preacher,  Richard  Mott,  In  a 
"  discourse  of  much  unction  and  pathos,  Is 
"  said  to  have  exclaimed  aloud  to  his  cono-re- 
''gation,  that  he  did  not  believe  there  was  a 
"  Quaker,  Presbyterian,  Methodist,  or  Baptist, 
*'in  Heaven.  Having  paused  to  give  his 
"audience  time  to  stare  and  to  wonder,  he 
''said,  that  in  Heaven,  God  knew  no  distinc- 
"tion,  but  considered  all  good  men  as  his 
''  children,  and  as  brethren  of  the  same  fam- 
''ily."'^ 

The   same  question  which  caused  the  Lu- 
^  Letter  of  Thomas  Tefferson. 


60  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH. 

theran  Reformation  still  remains  to  be  set- 
tled :  Shall  authority,  falsely  so  named,  exter- 
nal to  the  person,  and  predicated  on  an  as- 
sumption, triumph,  or  shall  the  person  himself 
triumph  over  that  authority  ?  Luther  scouted 
papal  authority,  but  he  set  himself  up  in  its 
place  and  stead  as  an  authority  from  which 
there  should  be  no  appeal.  And  wherever  to- 
day in  the  Christian  Church  we  have  not 
papal  Rome,  we  have  Luther,  or  Calvin,  or 
somebody  else. 

The  ''  essential  truths " — those  so-called 
truths  and  formulas  constituting  the  essence 
of  the  Protestant  Church,  bereft  of  which  it 
would  cease  to  exist — are  without  doubt  the 
same  in  kind  as  those  constitutinor  the  essence 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  whether  re- 
garded as  authority  superior  to  reason  and 
ignoring  it,  or  as  tl>eories  essentially  unreas- 
onable in  themselves. 

However  much  Luther  may  have  scouted 
the  argument  of  the  papal  legate,  from  their 
common  stand-point,  it  was  conclusively 
against  him.     ''  If  every  one  were  at  liberty 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  6 1 

"to  bring  back  Into  discussion  points  which 
''  for  ages  have  been  settled  by  the  church 
"and  by  councils,  nothing  would  be  certain 
"and  fixed,  doctrine  or  dogma,  and  there 
"would  be  no  belief  which  men  must  adhere 
"to  under  pain  of  eternal  damnation." 

Dr.  Dix,  the  Rector  of  Trinity  Church, 
New  York,  in  a  recent  discourse'^  admitted, 
with  great  precision  and  frankness,  that  be- 
tween external  authority  and  private  judg- 
ment, there  was  no  middle  ground ;  and  upon 
the  rock  of  authority  he  planted  his  church. 
There  let  it  rest.  If  this  age  of  free  thought 
and  general  intelligence  prefers  tradition  to 
reason  in  matters  of  religion  when  the  issue 
is  squarely  made,  we  must  perforce  be  con- 
tent. 

There  Is  more  to  be  feared  from  the  influ- 
ence of  those  representative  liberal  men  who 
starting  from  right  premises,  and  admitting 
the  necessity  of  private  judgment,  still  find 
some  excuse  for  erroneous  conclusions  ;  who, 
while  acknowledging  the  fact  that  the  Church 
*  Delivered  in  the  Broadway  Tabernacle. 


62  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH. 

Universal  lies  beyond  the  narrow  bounds  of 
sectarianism,  still  cling  to  old  ideas  as  fixed 
and  unalterable;  as  ''points  which  for  ages 
''have  been  settled;"  and  insist  on  their  re- 
ception, not  because  they  are  reasonable,  but 
because  they  seem  necessary  (as  they  un- 
doubtedly are)  to  the  maintenance  of  an  es- 
tablished, visible  Church,  because  the  Church 
cannot  exist  without  them.  And,  on  the 
other  hand,  thinking  the  Church  to  be  a  di- 
vine authoritative  institution,  having  grown 
up  with  the  notion  that  to  assail  it,  however 
lightly,  is  nothing  less  than  sacrilege,  there 
comes  upon  them  a  mistrust  that  reason  can 
afford  no  solution  to  the  questions  which  agi- 
tate the  relieious  world. 

A  distinguished  Unitarian  clergyman,  in  a 
sermon  which  created  at  the  time  of  its  pubH- 
cation  a  profound  sensation  says,  "There  are 
"  truths  in  regard  to  poHtics,  society,  religion, 
"  history,  Christianity,  manners,  science,  art, 
"  which  are  no  longer  properly  in  debate. 
"True  they  are  debated,  as  Hazlitt  debated 
"  the  Newtonian   astronomy  ;  as  Godwin  de- 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH,  63 

''bated  the  existence  of  society;  as  Buckle 
'*  debates  the  influence  of  reHgion  on  civiliza- 
'"'  tion  ;  but  they  are  debated  only  by  eccen- 
*'tric,  abnormal,  or  presumptuous  minds — 
''minds  out  of  pitch  in  the  great  concert  of 
"the  race."  He  calls  it  a  "perilous  folly"  to 
allow  polity,  morals,  religion,  to  be  wholly 
open  questions.* 

But  can  the  reverend  gentleman  inform  us 
precisely  what  truths  are  really  fixed  ?  what 
questions  are  not  open  ?  He  says  there  are 
certain  ones  not  even  to  be  discussed.  He 
sets  up  "truths"  for  us  to  take  as  authorita- 
tive.f  This  is  the  old  question,  and  the  real 
issue.  The  general  assertion,  and  assumption 
without  proof,  that  there  are  "truths  no 
"longer  in  debate"  will  not  satisfy  this  gener- 
ation. Do  the  ever-varying  discoveries  in 
science  and  psychology,  or  the  indefinitely 
multiplying  ideas  and  diversities  of  opinion 
which  distinguish  civilized  and  thinking  from 

^  Sequel  to  "  The  Suspense  of  Faith,"  by  Rev.  Dr.  Bel- 
lows, Sept.  25,  1859. 

t  See  Appendix.     Note  6. 


64  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH. 

barbarous  nations,  confirm  it  ?  Have  our 
Orthodox  Churches  in  their  Union  Meetings 
and  EvangeHcal  AlHances,  yet  found  a  com- 
mon ground  of  union?  Is  the  present  poHti- 
cal,  reHgious,  and  moral  condition  of  our  own 
favored  land,  where  the  people  are  taught  to 
read  and  reflect,  such  that  we  can  infer  stabil- 
ity from  intellectuality,  or  hope  for  any  nearer 
approach  to  universal  agreement  ?  Why,  this 
is  just  the  inevitable  conflict  of  the  age  ;  not 
of  the  new  against  the  old,  but  of  investiga- 
tion against  assumption ;  of  doubts  against 
established  systems ;  of  opinion  against 
usurped  authority;  of  inquiry  against  dogma- 
tism and  superstition.  On  the  one  hand  are 
arrayed  traditions,  mysteries,  proscription, 
slavery  ;  on  the  other,  intelligence,  humanity, 
liberty.  To  the  former  belong  the  cramped 
and  crowded  intellect,  temporal  power  and 
oppression,  the  divine  right  of  kings  ;  to  the 
latter,  freedom,  individuality,  and  mental  en- 
franchisement. 

Again,  religion  must,  so  far  as  it  is  to  be 


THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  65 

reasonable,  necessarily  rest  on  the  conclusions 
of  reason. 

Cousin  rightly  declares  that  whatever  is 
purely  sentimental  or  emotional;  which,  ex- 
punging reason,  leaves  nothing  in  its  place 
but  ^^ecstacy"  or  "abstraction  "—which  prom- 
ises me  a  superhuman  science  on  the  condi- 
tion of  my  first  losing  consciousness,  thought, 
liberty,  memory,  all  that  constitutes  me  an  in- 
telligent and  moral  being— is  without  the  pale 
of  speculation,  and  unreasonable ;  for  it  uses 
reason  to  deny  reason. 

On  the  contrary,  the  reason,  so  far  as  it  is 
the  expression  of  man's  self-consciousness,  is 
and  must  be  supreme,  and  its  deductions  are 
unanswerable,  and  without  appeal. 

The  universal  conscience  is  likewise  incon- 
trovertible, being  nearest  in  ijs  to  what  is  di- 


vme. 


"The  Word  proclaimed  by  the  concordant  voice 
Of  mankind  fails  not;  for  in  man  speaks  God."^ 

I  appeal   to    the   natural  law,   which,   fixed 
*  Hesiod,  Work  and  Days. 


66  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH. 

and  eternal,  guides  alike  the  planets,  in  their 
immense  courses,  and  human  wanderings  how- 
ever erratic,  in  a  predetermined  orbit. 

"Oh,  backward  looking  son  of  time, 
The  new  is  old,  the  old  is  new; 
The  cycle  of  a  change  sublime 
Still  sweeping  through. 

"  Take  heart !  the  waster  builds  again  ; 
A  charmed  life  old  goodness  hath ; 
The  tares  may  perish ;  but  the  grain 
Is  not  for  death."  * 

*  John  G.  Whittier. 


APPENDIX, 


APPENDIX. 


NOTE    I.     Page  20. 

"  Let  the  Christian  reader's  first  object  always  be  to 
"  find  out  the  hteral  meaning  of  the  Word  of  God  ;  for  on 
"  this  and  this  alone  is  the  whole  foundation  of  faith  and 
"  Christian  theology." — Luther,  Expositio7i  of  the  Book  of 
Dcuterono7ny. 

NOTE   2.     Page  47. 

"  It  is  a  lamentable  fact  that  throughout  the  whole 
"  world  there  is  no  system  of  religion,  the  votaries  of 
"  which  are  subdivided  into  so  many  sectaries  as  those 
"'  who  jDrofess  an  adherence  to  the  Christian  faith." — 
Thomas  Dick,  Influence  of  Knowledge  on  Morals,  p.  115. 

The  following  is  a  recent  enumeration  of  some  of  the  dif- 
ferent religious  sects  in  Great  Britain  and  the. United  States  : 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Zion  Church,  Associate  Presbyterians,  Agapae- 
monians,  Anglo-Catholics,  Albrights,  Apostolics,  Armin- 
ians.  Advent  Christians,  Anglican  Church  (High  Church, 
Low  Church  and  Broad  Church),  Apostolics,  Baptized  Be- 
lievers, Bereans,  Believers  in  Christ,  Bible  Christians,  Bi- 
ble Defence  Association,  Brethren,  Believers  in  Divine 
Visitation  of  Joanna  Southcott,  Benevolent  Methodists, 
Blue  Ribbon  Army,  Campbellites,  Church  of  God,  Church 

69 


^0  APPENDIX. 

of  England  and  Wales,  Christian  Connection  Methodists, 
Calvinistic  Methodists  (Whitefield's  Connection),  Countess 
of  Huntingdon's  Connection,  Calvinists,  Calvinistic  Bap- 
tists, Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church,  Church  of  Scot- 
land, Church  of  Scotland  in  England,  Cameronians,  Cov- 
enanters, Congregationalists,  Catholic  and  Apostolic 
Church,  Christians  who  object  to  be  otherwise  designated. 
Christian  Believers,  Christian  Brethren,  Christian  Eliasites, 
Christian  Israelites,  Christian  Teetotallers,  Christian 
Temperance  Men,  Christian  Unionists,  Church  of  Christ, 
Christians  owning  no  name  but  the  Lord  Jesus,  Christian 
Mission,  Christadelphians,  Church  of  the  People,  Coven- 
try Mission  Band,  Christian  Disciples,  Church  of  Progress, 
Catholic  Christian  Church,  Disciples,  Dutch  Reformed 
Church,  Dissenters,  Derbyites,  Disciples  in  Christ,  Danish 
Lutherans,  English  Seventh-Day  Baptists,  Eastern  Re- 
formed Presbyterian  Church,  Eastern  Orthodox  Greek 
Church,  Eclectics,  Episcopalians,  Evangelical  Free 
Church,  Evangelical  Mission,  Episcopal  Free  Church,  Free 
Gospel  Church,  Free-Will  Baptists,  Free  Christian  Bap- 
tists, Free  Church  (Episcopal),  Free  Church  of  England, 
Free  Union  Church,  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  Free  Con- 
gregations, Free  Thinkers,  Free  Religionists,  Friends  or 
Quakers,  Followers  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  Free  Grace 
Gospel  Christians,  Free  Christians,  Free' Christian  Asso- 
ciation, Free  Evangelical  Christians,  Free  Grace  Gospel 
Church,  Free  Gospel  and  Christian  Brethren,  Free  Gos- 
pellers, Free  Methodists,  Free  Church,  General  Baptists, 
General  Baptist  New  Connection,  German  Evangelical 
Union  of  the  West,  German  Reformed  Church,  German 
Lutherans,  Glassites,  German  Roman  Catholics,  Greek 
Catholic  Church,  Glory  Band,  Harmonists,  Hicksite 
Friends,  Hooker  Mennonites,  Hallelujah  Band,  Halifax 


APPENDIX.  yi 

Psychological    Society,    Hope     Mission,    Humanitarians, 
Independents,  Irvingites,  Independent  Religious  Reform- 
ers,   Independent     Unionists,    Inghamites,    Independent 
Methodists,  Israelites,  Jews,  Jumpers,  Lutherans,  Latter- 
Day  Saints  or  Mormons,  Mennonites,  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,    Methodist   Episcopal   Church   South,   Methodist 
Protestants,  Modern   Methodists,  Morrisonians  or  Evan- 
gelical Unionists,  Millerites  or  Second  Adventists,  Meth- 
odist Reform   Union,    Moravians,   New  Society  Baptists, 
New   Jerusalem   or    Christian    Church,  New  Castle  Sail- 
ors Society,  New  Church   Society,  New   Wesleyans,   Old 
Baptists,    Original    Connection    of    Wesleyans,    Original 
United  Seceders,  Orthodox,  Oneida  Community  or  Perfec- 
tionists, Oratorians,  Old  Catholic,  Open  Baptists,  Order 
of  St.  Austin,  Orthodox  Eastern  Church,  Peculiar  People, 
Plymouth   Brethren,  Pedo-Baptists,  Protestant   Episcopal 
Church    in    the    United     States,     Primitive     Methodists, 
Presbyterians,     Presbyterian     Church     in     the      United 
States,    (Old    and    New    School),    Presbyterian    Church 
in    the     United     States     South,     Puseyites,    Positivists, 
Practical   Christian    Republic,  Progressive  Friends,   Pro- 
gressionists, Protestants  adhering  to  the  Articles  of  the 
Church  of  England,  I.  to  XVIII.  inclusive,  but  rejecting 
order  and  ritual.  Providence  Quakers,  Peculiar  Baptists, 
Polish   Protestant *Church,   Portsmouth   Mission,   Presby- 
terian  Baptists,    Primitive  Congregation,    Primitive    Free 
Church,  Protestant  Trinitarians,  Protestant  Union,  Pres- 
byterian  Church  in    England,   Primitive  Christians,   Pro- 
testant Members  of  the  Church  of  England,  Recreative 
Religionists,  Regular  Baptists,  River  Brethren,  Reformed 
Methodist  Evangelical   Association,    Refuge   Methodists, 
Reform  Free  Church  of  Wesleyan  Methodists,  Reformed 
Presbyterians  or  Covenanters,  Redemptionists  or  Congre- 


72  APPENDIX. 

gation  of  the  Most  Holy  Redeemer,  Roman  Catholic, 
Ranters,  Reformers,  Revivalists,  Rational  Christians,  Re- 
formed Church  of  England,  Reformed  Episcopal  Church, 
Revival  Band,  Seventh-Day  Baptists,  Six-Principle  Bap- 
tists, Scotch  Baptists,  Sandemanians,  Secession  Presby- 
tery, Scotch  Presbyterians,  Separatists  (Protestant),  Sab- 
batarians, Second  Advent  Brethren,  Schwenkfelders, 
Shakers  or  the  United  Society  of  Believers,  Southcot- 
tians.  Spiritualists  or  Spiritists,  Swedenborgian  or  New 
Jerusalem  Church,  Salem  Societ}^,  Strict  Baptists,  Secular- 
ists, Shakers,  Spiritual  Church,  Salvation  Army,  Society 
of  the  New  Church,  Tunkers,  Testimon\'  Congregational 
Church,  Trinitarians,  Temperance  Methodists,  United 
Christian  Church,  United  Secession  Church,  Union  Bap- 
tists, Universalists,  Unitarian  Baptists,  United  Brethren 
or  Moravians,  United  Free  Methodists,  United  Presby- 
terian Church  Unitarians,  United  Christian  Church, 
United  Brethren  in  Christ,  United  Original  Seceders, 
Unionists,  Unitarian  Christians,  Union  Free  Church, 
Unsectarians,  Wesleyan  Methodists,  Wesleyan  Methodists 
New  Connection,  Welsh  Calvinistic  Presbyterians,  Welsh 
Calvinistic  Methodists,  Welsh  Free  Presbyterians,  Wes- 
leyan Reformers,  Wesleyan  Reform  Glory  Band,  Welsh 
Calvinists,  Welsh  Presbyterians,  Working  Man's  Evangel- 
istic Mission,  Wesleyans,  and  others. 

There  are  said  to  be  more  than  a  thousand  different  re- 
ligious systems  among  mankind,  but,  in  the  words  of 
Locke,  "  should  any  one  a  little  catechise  the  greater 
"  part  of  the  partisans  of  most  of  the  sects  in  the  world, 
"  he  would  not  find  concerning  those  matters  they  are  so 
"  zealous  for,  that  they  have  any  opinions  of  their  own." 
— Essay  on  the  Hiwian  Under standifig,  p.  464. 


APPENDIX.  73 


NOTE   3.     Page  53. 

"  I  perfectly  agree  with  my  brother  Heath  in  reprobat- 
"  ing  any  distinction  between  7nalum  proJiibitiun  and  ma- 
"  lum  ill  se,  and  consider  it  pregnant  with  mischief." — 
RooKE,  J.,  in  Aicbert  v.  Maze  2  Bos.  and  Fiil.  371,  A.D. 
1801.   . 

"  The  moraUty  of  the  position  of  the  learned  commen- 
"  tator  [Blackstone]  has  been  well  questioned.  Its  sound- 
"  ness  as  a  legal  principle,  though  it  once  had  sway  in  the 
"  courts,  has  been  since  repudiated." — i  Sharswood's  Blac. 
Com.  p.  58  {iiote  by  Editor), 

NOTE   4.     Page  56. 

"  I  have  never  united  myself  to  any  Church,  because  I 
"  have  found  difficulty  in  giving  my  assent,  without  mental 
"  reservation,  to  the  long,  complicated  statements  of  Chris- 
"  tian  doctrine  which  characterize  their  Articles  of  Belief 
"  and  Confession  of  Faith." — Abraham  Lincoln,  Carpen- 
ter's Six  Months  at  the  White  House,  p.  190. 

NOTE   5.     Page  57. 

"  The  measure  of  what  is  everywhere  called  and  es- 
"  teemed  virtue  and  vice,  is  the  approbation  or  dislike, 
"  praise  or  blame,  which  by  a  secret  or  tacit  consent,  es- 
"  tablishes  itself  in  the  several  societies,  tribes,  and  clubs 
"  of  men  in  the  world  ;  wdiereby  several  actions  come  to 
"  find  credit  or  disgrace  among  them  according  to  the 
"judgment,  maxims^  or  fashions  of  that  place." — Locke, 
Essay  on  the  Human  Understanding,  p.  336,  §  10. 


74  APPENDIX. 


NOTE   6.     Page  63. 

Dr.  Bellows,  in  a  letter  from  Chamouni,  Savoy,  dated 
September  15,  1867,  comments  in  this  fashion  upon  the 
manner  of  worship  at  the  English  Chapel  in  that  place  : 
"  Any  one  who  watches  the  girls  and  boys,  the  young 
"  women  and  young  men,  saying  the  creed  of  the  English 
"  Litr.rgy,  with  an  implicit  reverence,  into  which  thought 
"and  choice  evidently  enter  very  little,  sees  plainly  that 
"  the  theory  is  not  to  encourage  any  thought  or  choice 
*'  about  it,  but  to  take  the  best  means  for  stamping  a  faith 
"  which  has  been  thought  out  and  agreed  upon  by  compe- 
'•  tent  persons,  upon  those  who  are  probably  to  have  no 
"  faith,  or  only  a  very  foolish  and  ineffectual  one,  if  they 
"  are  not  thus  furnished.  There  is  an  immense  deal  to  be 
"  said  in  favor  of  this  side  of  the  question." — New  Yo?'k 
Liberal  Christian,  Nove7nber  2,  1867. 


THE    END. 


COMMENDATORY    CRITICISMS    ON 
THE  ESSAY. 


"  Dwight  H.  Olmstead  has  published  a  lecture,  given  in 
this  city  some  years  ago  on  The  Pi'otestant  Faith.  It  is  a 
candid  criticism  of  Luther's  cardinal  doctrine  of  justifica- 
tion by  faith.  That  doctrine,  as  laid  down  by  Joachim  in 
1539  was,  'That  we  obtain  the  remission  of  sins,  justifica- 
tion, and  final  and  eternal  salvation  by  the  mere  grace  of 
God,  only  through  faith  in  the  redemption  of  Christ,  and 
by  no  worthiness,  work,  or  desert  of  our  own.'  Mr.  Olm- 
stead contends  that  seeking  salvation  is  not  a  religious, 
but  a  selfish  act.  An  act  performed  with  reference  to  a 
personal  benefit  is  without  merit.  In  the  second  place, 
belief  is  not  subject  to  the  will,  but  is  involuntary,  and  is 
therefore  neither  praiseworthy  nor  blameworthy.  These 
points  he  maintains  with  brief  but  conclusive  arguments, 
and  shows  that  Protestantism  cannot  stand  on  the  ground 
which  Luther  defended  with  so  much  of  zeal  and  energy." 
— The  Golden  Age,  New  York,  Oct.  24,  1874. 

"  This  lecture  was  delivered  many  years  ago  before  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Union  of  New  York.     Its  style  is 
excellent  and  its  reasoning  able.     It  is  a  severe  criticism  ' 
of  the  position  of  Protestantism,  and  for  the  most  part,  a 
just  one." 

"  We  should  do  right  for  its  own  sake  and  not  from  a  . 
hope  of  Heaven  or  a  fear  of  Hell.     Belief  is  involuntary, 
and,  therefore,  no  merit  or  demerit  attaches  to  its  posses- ' 

75  '^^ 


'J^  CO  MM  END  A  TOR  V  CRITICISMS. 

sion.  These  two  points  are  ably  stated  and  well  sustained. 
The  two  main  positions  of  Protestants,  that  we  are  saved 
by  faith  and  that  hope  of  reward  and  fear  of  punishment 
are  the  chief  incentives  of  life,  are  very  clearly  shown  to 
be  errors  in  this  lecture." — The  Liberal  Worker,  Sharo?i, 
Wis.,  Dec.  1 6,  1874. 

"  A  sharp,  readable  criticism  of  orthodoxy  and  episco- 
pacy by  a  liberal.  It  will  pay  any  enquirer  to  read  it 
carefully." — Household  Messenger^  London  Eidge,  Dec., 
1874. 

"  It  is  written  in  an  attractive,  clear  and  forcible  style, 
and  its  arguments  are  most  powerfully  and  logically 
stated." — The  Maiden  Mirror,  Mass.,  Oct.  31,  1874. 

"  His  reasoning  is  well  arranged,  terse,  and  compact  in 
expression." — Utica  Herald,  1874. 

"  The  author  of  this  little  pamphlet  has  ransacked  the 
treasures  of  history  for  information  bearing  upon  the  sub- 
ject which  he  has  so  ably  discussed,  and  from  the  stand- 
point which  he,  in  common  with  many  others  occupies, 
has  given  in  a  small  and  compact  compass  a  most  elo- 
quent and  philosophic  vindication  of  the  tenets  of  his  be- 
lief. Acute,  logical,  and  unimpassioned,  he  subjects  the 
various  religious  creeds  and  systems  to  a  rigid  analysis, 
treating  them  with  remarkable  impartiality  and  with  a  de- 
gree of  justice  rarely  met  with  in  the  doctrinal  and  theo- 
logical discussions  of  the  day.  He  starts  out  with  two 
propositions  and  maintains  his  argument  with  exceeding 
skill.  His  first  proposition  is  that  '  salvation  is  not  a 
proper  incentive  to  the  performance  of  duty,'  and  in  this 
connection  very  pertinently  remarks :  ^  The  theology  that 
looks  to  the  mere  salvation  of  the  soul,  whether  from  pun- 
ishment or  from  sin  itself,  can  be  defended  neither  on 
principle  nor,  paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  on  the  plea  of 


COMMENDATORY  CRITICISMS.  // 

expediency ;  certainly  not,  if  he  be  the  happiest  who  is 
the  most  virtuous.'  " 

"  The  autlior  then  passes  to  the  consideration  of  tlie 
second  of  his  propositions,  '  that  all  belief  is  involuntary,' 
and  fortifies  his  premises  by  most  distinguished  and  un- 
questionable authorities,  and  concludes  '  that  all  belief— 
and,  of  course,  all  erroneous  belief — is  in  itself  wholly  in- 
voluntary, and  for  that  reason  no  one  should  be  censured 
for  his  belief  or  disbelief  upon  any  subject,  however  sa- 
cred or  profane.'  This  point  he  claims  if  well  taken 
*  strikes  at  the  very  existence  of  the  churches  and  is  fatal 
to  their  present  form  and  organization.'  " 

"  We  regret  that  we  have  not  the  space  to  do  fuller  and 
more  ample  justice  to  his  conclusions,  conclusions  that 
betra}^  a  sound  judgment,  critical  discriminations  and 
careful  balancing  of  evidence.  Such  critical  disquisitions 
possess  great  interest  and  furnish  suggestive  lessons 
which  few  can  study  without  profit." — The  Palisade  News, 
West  Hoboken^  N.  J.,  Oct.  lo,  1874. 


RECENT  TRAVEL  AND  DESCRIPTION. 

The  Merv  Oasis  :  Travels  and  Adventures  East  of  the  Cas- 
pian during-  the  Years  1879-'80-'81,  Including'  Five 
Months'  Residence  in  the  Tekke  Territory.  By  E.  O'Don- 
OVAN,  correspondent  of  the  London  Daily  Nezus.  With  portrait,  maps, 
and  fac-similes  of  diplomatic  documents.      2  vohimes,  large  octavo,  $7, 

"  He  tells  his  story  with  the  ready  pen  of  an  experienced  writer,  and  though  his  book 
is  a  large  one  it  has  no  dull  pages." — Press^  Phila. 

"  His  btyle  is  extremely  vivid  and  picturesque,  his  anecdotes  are  many  and  varied, 
and  his  portraits  of  Turcomans  and  Persians  are  graphic  and  life-like  to  the  last 
degree.  Altogether,  the  book  will  fulfil  even  the  high  expectations  whicli  have  been 
naturally  raised  by  the  letters  to  the  Daily  News,"'— Pail  Mall  (.'.azette,  London. 

"Mr.  O'Donovan's  visit  sincrle-handed  to  the  Tekke  stronghold  during  a  time  of 
wild  excitement  is  an  instance  of  daring  to  which  we  are  precluded  from  applying  the 
harsh  term  'fool-hardiness'  by  the  excellence  of  the  present  book." — Atkenceum, 
London. 

Six  Months  in  Persia.  By  Edward  Stack.  2  volumes,  octavo,  with 
seven  elaborate  maps,  $4.50. 

"A  welcome  addition  to  our  knowledge  of  this  interesting  but  almost  unknown 
land . ' ' — Ch risiia a  Un ion. 

Italian  Rambles.  By  James  Jackson  Jarves,  author  of  "The  Art 
Idea,"  "  Italian  Sights,"  etc.      i6mo,  cloih  extra,  $1.25. 

Cuban  Sketches.     By  James  W.  Steele.     Octavo,  cloth  extra,  $1.50. 
"■The  book  gives  a  well-written  tale  of  topics  which  are  of  interest  both  to  tourist 
and  to  those  who  enjoy  travelling  at  their  own  firesides."— C/2r;,s-^/rtw  Register. 

MISS  ISABELLA  BIRD'S  TRAVELS. 

Unbeaten  Tracks  in  Japan.  By  Isabella  Bird.  Library  edition, 
2  volumes,  octavo,  fully  illustrated,  $5.00.  Popular  edition,  i  volume, 
octavo,  fully  illustrated,  $3.00. 

"  Beyond  question  the  most  valuable  and  the  most  interesting  of  recent  books  con- 
cerning Japanese  travel.  *  *  *  Q^g  of  the  most  profitable  of  recent  travel 
records." — Evening  Post. 

A  Lady*s  Life  in  the  Rocky  Mountains.     i2mo,  cloth,  illustrated, 

$1-75 

"  Her  whole  experience  is  a  singular  combination  of  the  natural  and  the  dramatic,  as 
well  as  the  most  encouraging  record  of  feminine  confidence  and  masculine  chivalrous- 
ness." — Spectator. 

Six    Months   Among  the   Palm   Groves,   Coral   Reefs,  and 
Volcanoes   of  ths  Sandwich  Islands.       Octavo,   cloth,   illus- 
trated, $2  50. 
"  Miss  Bird  is  the  ideal  Traveller." — London  Spectator. 

The  Golden  Chersonese,  and  the  Way  Thither.     Octavo,  cloth, 

with  24  illustrations,  and  2  maps,   $2.25. 

Sketches  of  travel  in  the  Malayan  Peninsula. 

"  There  never  was  a  more  perfect  traveller  than  Miss  Bird.  *  *  *  Interesting 
extracts  could  be  made  from  every  page  of  the  book  *  *  *  one  of  the  cleverest 
books  of  travel  of  the  year." — New  York  Times. 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS,  27  &  29  West  23d  St.,  New  York. 
18  Henrietta  Street,  Covent  Garden,  London. 


IMPORTANT  STANDARD   WORKS 

RECENTLY    PUBLISHED. 

PRE-HISTORIC    AMERICA.      By  the   Marquis    de   Nadaillac, 

ti-anslaled  by  N.  D'Anvers,  author  of  "A  History  of  Art,"     Edited 

with  notes  by  W.  H.  Dall.    Large  8vo,  with  219  illustrations   $5  00 

Chirk  Contents.— INIan  and  the  Mastodon,  The  Kjokkemmoddinfrs  and  Cave 
Relics,  Mound  Builders,  Pottery,  Cliff  Dwellers,  Central  American  Ruins,  Peru,  Early 
Races,  Origin  of  American  Aborigines,  etc.,  etc. 

THE    DISCOVERIES   OF   AMERICA  TO  THE  YEAR  1525. 

By  Arthur   James  Weise.     Second   edition.      One  large   octavo 

volume,  with  maps         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .     $4  50 

The  work  presents  the  most  important  and  veritable  information  of  what  was 
known  bv  the  ancients  respecting  the  continent  and  islands  in  the  Western  Hemi- 
sphere, tog-ether  \\  iih  that  found  in  the  Sagas  of  Iceland  and  Greenland  in  relation  to 
the  discoveries  of  the  Northmen,  and  also  that  contained  in  certain  rare  books,  manu- 
scripts, and  maps,  descriptive  of  the  explorations  of  Columbus,  the  Cabots,  Cortereal, 
Verrazzano,  and  other  navigators,  to  the  year  1525 

A  HISTORY  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR.  By  Anton 
GiNDELY,  Professor  of  German  History  in  the  University  of  Prague. 
Translated  by  Andrew  Ten  Brook,  recently  Professor  of  Mental 
Philosophy  in  the  University  of  Michigan.  Second  edition.  Two 
volumes,  octavo,  with  maps  and  illustrations  .  .  .     $4  00 

LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS.  By  the 
Hon.  John  L.  Stevens,  LL.D.,  recently  United  States  Minister  to 
Stockholm.     8vo,  with  new  portrait  engraved  on  steel  .     $2  50 

THE  COMPLETE  WORKS  OF  ALEXANDER  HAMILTON. 

Including  his  Contributions  to  the  "  Federalist."  Edited,  with  in- 
troduction and  notes,  by  Henry  Cabot  Lodge.  Seven  volumes, 
handsomely  printed  from  type,  with  two  portraits  engraved  on  steel. 
Editio7i  limited  to  ^00  copies.  .  .  .  •     $35  00 

CONTENTS. 

I.     Revolutionary.    Government  and  the  V.  Foreign  Relations. 

Constitution.  VI.  The  Excise  and  Whiskey  Rebellion.  '* 

II.     Taxation  and  Finance.  Miscellaneous. 

III.  National  Banks.     Coinage,  Industry,  VII.  Miscellaneous. 

and  Commerce.  VIII.     Private  Correspondence. 

IV.  l-'oreign  Relations.  IX.     The  Federalist. 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS,  New  York  and  London. 


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